Israel-Hezbollah border clashes: Latest updates 21/6/2024

On Friday, Hezbollah targeted Israeli soldiers at the Ras al-Naqoura coastal post with a series of suicide drones in retaliation for an Israeli strike on Deir Kifa.

Later, Hezbollah also targeted four posts in the occupied Shebaa Farms and Kfarshouba Heights. In response, Israeli artillery shelled the outskirts of Halta and Kfar Hamam, as well as a house near al-Naqoura.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli strikes were reported in al-Wazzani in southern Lebanon, and overnight air raids hit Deir al-Seryan and Rab Tlatin in the Marjayoun district, and Aitaroun, a southern border town.

A Hezbollah fighter was killed on Thursday in a drone strike on a vehicle in Deir Kifa. In response, Hezbollah launched “dozens of Katyusha rockets” at an Israeli barracks.

The Israeli military stated that the fighter killed in Deir Kifa was responsible for planning and executing terror attacks against Israel and commanding Hezbollah ground forces in the Jouaiyya area of south Lebanon.

Since Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, which sparked the Gaza conflict, Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been exchanging near-daily fire, with rhetoric and strikes escalating.

The cross-border violence has resulted in at least 479 deaths in Lebanon, mostly fighters but also 93 civilians, according to an AFP tally. In northern Israel, at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed.