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19 February 2024

Israeli strikes on Lebanon kill 9 amid concerns over cross-border escalation

Navya Beri

People work in the area where a rocket landed after it was fired from Lebanon, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Kiryat Shmona close to Israel's border with Lebanon in northern Israel February 13, 2024 Photograph:(Reuters)

The Israeli military said on Wednesday (Feb 14) said that its fighter jets "began a series of strikes in Lebanon".

An Israeli strike on south Lebanon claimed the lives of at least nine people, including seven civilians on Wednesday (Feb 15), reported news agency AFP quoting official sources.

On the other hand, the Israeli military said that it lost one of its soldiers in cross-border rocket fire.

While no group immediately claimed responsibility for the rocket attack, the exchange of deadly fire, which led to the worst single-day civilian death toll in Lebanon since the war broke out between Israel and Hamas on Oct 7, has raised concerns over heightened tensions and escalation of conflict between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah.

An Israeli strike on a residential building in the city of Nabatiyeh killed four civilians from the same family "including two women" on Wednesday, said a Lebanese security source as per AFP reports.

"The residents of the apartment targeted have no links to Hezbollah," added the source, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Earlier, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA), the Israeli warplanes targeted a house in south Lebanon's Sawwaneh, which claimed the lives of three members of the same family.

The victims were identified as a Syrian woman and her child, aged two, and a stepchild, 13.

The agency said that another attack, which was targeted at the village of Adshit, left one person dead and injured 10 others. The Hezbollah group said that the deceased was one of its fighters.

The Israeli military released a statement saying that 20-year-old Sergeant Omer Sarah Benjo was killed "as a result of a (rocket) launch carried out from Lebanese territory on a base in northern Israel".

It said that the fighter jets had hit a series of "Hezbollah terror targets" in several areas of south Lebanon, including Adshit and Sawwaneh.

Hezbollah and the Israeli military had been exchanging fire for over four months when the Lebanese armed group fired rockets across the disputed border in support of Hamas, which launched a deadly attack on Israel on October 7.

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