“Hezbollah member killed in Israeli drone strike on Zahrani”

An Israeli drone targeted Tuesday morning a car deep inside Lebanon in the al-Zahrani region, killing a Hezbollah member.

A source close to Hezbollah said the strike killed an engineer attached to the group’s air defense forces as he was travelling in a vehicle.

Hezbollah announced the death of Hussein Azqoul “on the road to Jerusalem” — the phrase used for fighters killed by Israel. The Israeli army said Azqoul was a key member in the air defense unit.

The strike hit the Abu al-Aswad region near the southern coastal town of Aadloun between the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon, about 40 kilometers from the border.

Israeli artillery meanwhile shelled the outskirts of Tayr Harfa and Alma al-Shaab.

Israeli warplanes had carried out overnight nine airstrikes on al-Jabbour, Jabal Abu Rashed, Yaroun and al-Aishiyeh.

Hezbollah has recently intensified its attacks on Israel military targets across the border. On Monday, it fired “dozens” of Katyusha rockets at an army headquarters in northern Israel in response to Israeli attacks on “southern villages and civilian homes”, most recently in Srifa, Odaisseh and Rob Tlatin.

The strike on Srifa killed another Hezbollah member, Mohammad Atiyeh. The Israeli army said Atiyeh was also a key member in the Radwan air unit.

On Sunday evening, Hezbollah shot down an Israeli Hermes 450 drone, the fourth to be brought down since the war began.

Since Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza, there have been near-daily cross-border exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Since October 7 at least 376 people have been killed in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also 70 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Israel says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed on its side of the border.