Israeli Strikes Kill 5 in South Lebanon, Including 3 Children

Lebanese official media reported that separate Israeli strikes on Tuesday in southern Lebanon resulted in the deaths of five people, including three Syrian children. In retaliation, Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel.

According to the National News Agency (NNA), three Syrian children were killed in an airstrike that targeted farmland in the village of Umm Toot. Additionally, an Israeli drone strike on a motorcycle on the Kfar Tebnit road killed two Syrians.

A Lebanese security source, speaking anonymously, informed AFP that the two Syrians were civilians who worked nearby and had been swimming in the area. Eyewitnesses reported that the motorbike was carrying two people and that a second strike occurred when citizens tried to approach the bike.

In response to these strikes, Hezbollah announced that it fired “Katyusha rockets” at northern Israel, citing both the deaths of the two civilians in Kfar Tebnit and the “horrible massacre in Umm Toot village” as reasons for the retaliation.

The United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, expressed concern over the ongoing violence, highlighting the tragic death of three children in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah has been exchanging almost daily fire with Israeli forces in support of Hamas since the Palestinian militant group’s attack on Israel on October 7, which sparked the current conflict in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military reported that 40 projectiles were fired from Lebanon on Tuesday, followed by an additional 10 later in the day. The Israeli air force responded with strikes on Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon, including a “terrorist cell” near Umm Toot.

Sirens warning of incoming fire were heard in northern Israel overnight, though no casualties were reported.

Since the start of the cross-border violence in October, 511 people have been killed in Lebanon, mostly fighters but also including at least 104 civilians, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, 17 soldiers and 13 civilians have been killed. The violence, mainly confined to the border area, has raised fears of a full-scale conflict, reminiscent of the war between the two sides in the summer of 2006.