BEIRUT: Two people were killed – one a civilian and the other, the Israeli army said, the head of Iran-backed Hezbollah's anti-tank missile unit – and seven others were wounded on Wednesday in renewed Israeli hostilities in several towns in southern Lebanon.
An Israeli drone targeted a motorcycle in the town of Jouaiyya at noon, and a passing car was hit, injuring those inside.
The Emergency Operations Center of the Ministry of Health reported that two people were killed, Hezbollah member Hassan Fares Jeshi and a civilian named Mohammed Hassan Shoumar, while four others were injured.
The Israeli army said: “Hassan Fares is the commander of Hezbollah's anti-tank rocket unit.”
Israeli artillery shelling and airstrikes continued against border towns known for their loyalty to Hezbollah. These attacks hit the towns of Blida, Tayr Harfa, Khiam, Jebbayn, Chihine, Majdelyoun, Naqoura, Zibqin, Chaqra, Baraachit, Halta, Kounine, Mhaibib and Kfarkela.
The Emergency Operations Center said that “phosphorus artillery shelling targeted the city of Shebaa, causing a citizen to suffer from suffocation, requiring hospitalization.”
Hezbollah responded by targeting “Raheb site and Jal Al-Alam site with artillery shells, and Malikiyah site with missile weapons.”
Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier for the second day in a row over Beirut.
The National News Agency in Lebanon reported that Israeli planes did the same in two waves over the cities of Sidon and Jezzine, and various parts of the south of the country, with activists on social media sharing images of planes violating Lebanese airspace.
Residents of Beirut and dozens of towns in the Mount Lebanon region had experienced severe panic on Tuesday when Israeli warplanes breached the sound barrier at low altitude and caused a loud boom.
Border villages bordering the Blue Line in the western and central sectors were hit by hours of tension later in the day with the Israeli army firing flares, while Hezbollah carried out nine operations against Israeli military sites.
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech on Tuesday that a response to last week's killing of the group's prominent military leader Fuad Shukr was “inevitable”.
The Israelis are also predicting Hezbollah and Iran's response to the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran just hours after Shukr's death in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: “The Israeli army is constantly developing its defensive and offensive capabilities.”
Meanwhile, leaflets were released on Wednesday in predominantly Druze regions, particularly in the Choueifat area, with images of the children who were victims of the Majdal Shams attack in the occupied Golan, which killed 12 people. These bore the words: “We will avenge them, Hezbollah.”
Israel has accused Hezbollah of shelling the soccer field in Majdal Shams, but Hezbollah strongly denies responsibility for the attack, while Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has declared his support for the Iran-backed group.
