Beirut, Lebanon:
An Israeli attack in southern Lebanon killed a Hezbollah fighter, the group said on Wednesday, after state media reported that two of his relatives were also killed and the Iran-backed movement launched missiles in retaliation.
The border between Lebanon and Israel has seen escalating gun battles since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, mainly between the Israeli army and Hamas ally Hezbollah, raising fears of a wider conflagration.
“Enemy warplanes raided a house before midnight (2200 GMT)… in the center of the town of Bint Jbeil”, about two kilometers (just over a mile) from the border, killing a man, his brother and his brother . woman, Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) said.
The NNA identified the dead as Ali Bazzi, his brother Ibrahim and his wife Shourouk Hammoud, and said another family member was injured.
Hezbollah later announced that Ali Bazzi was one of its fighters.
A family member told AFP that Ibrahim Bazzi was an Australian citizen who had flown in for a visit about a week earlier.
During the funeral procession in Bint Jbeil on Wednesday, an AFP photographer spotted three coffins draped with Hezbollah flags.
Hassan Fadlallah, a lawmaker from the Iran-backed group, said at the ceremony that “no crime against civilians will pass without the enemy paying the price.”
Hezbollah said later Wednesday that it launched a barrage of 30 Katyusha rockets toward Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel “in response to the enemy's repeated crimes and its attacks on civilian homes in Bint Jbeil.”
More than 150 people have been killed on the Lebanese side since the start of cross-border hostilities, most of them Hezbollah fighters, but also more than 20 civilians, including three journalists, according to an AFP tally.
At least four civilians and nine soldiers have been killed on the Israeli side, army figures show.
'Suicide drones'
The firefight has been largely confined to the border area, although Israel has carried out limited attacks deeper into Lebanese territory.
Hezbollah said on Wednesday it had carried out a series of other attacks on Israeli forces and positions, including one on the disputed Shebaa Farms, using “suicide drones”, rockets and artillery.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “a number of launches were identified that went from Lebanon to various areas in northern Israel,” adding that the army had hit the sources of the fire and “additional areas in Lebanon.”
It also said that “fighter jets” hit Hezbollah's “terrorist infrastructure and military sites.”
The Lebanese NNA reported Israeli attacks in several areas along the southern border.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military said an anti-tank missile fired by the Shiite Muslim group wounded nine soldiers as they went to help a civilian wounded in an earlier attack.
Israel has insisted that Hezbollah withdraw north of the Litani River, which is about 30 kilometers north of the border.
UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, called for the removal of armed personnel south of the Litani, with the exception of UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army and state security forces.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati said last week that Lebanon is ready to implement international resolutions that would help end Hezbollah's cross-border attacks if Israel also complies and withdraws.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)