7 Killed in Israeli Strikes in Lebanon

The Israeli army announced that an airstrike carried out by its aircraft on the Al-Habariyya area in southern Lebanon early Wednesday targeted what it described as "a saboteur," according to the Arab World News Agency.

A spokesman for the Israeli army stated that the targeted individual "promoted terrorist attacks towards Israeli territory."

He said that the target "belongs to the (Islamic group)" and that he "was also involved in the past in carrying out attacks through various routes towards Israeli territory."

He also indicated that a number of other individuals described as saboteurs were killed in the same airstrike.

In response, a statement from Hezbollah today stated that its fighters fired dozens of rockets at the Kiryat Shmona area in northern Israel in retaliation for the bombing of the Al-Habariyya area in southern Lebanon earlier today.

Meanwhile, the Islamic group (the Lebanese faction associated with the Palestinian Hamas movement) announced that an Israeli airstrike targeted an ambulance center in the village of Al-Habariyya early today, resulting in the death of 7 people.

A source in the group, speaking to Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity, stated that "7 paramedics" were killed in the airstrike that targeted an ambulance center in Al-Habariyya managed by the "Lebanese Ambulance Association," affiliated with the group.

Many parties and factions in Lebanon have health and ambulance associations affiliated with them.

The Lebanese Ambulance Association, affiliated with the Islamic group, stated in a statement that the airstrike targeted a building in Al-Habariyya used by the Emergency and Relief Department under its supervision.

Another official in the group, also speaking on condition of anonymity, stated that more than 10 paramedics were in the ambulance center at the time of the targeting, indicating that bodies were retrieved from under the rubble.

There has been almost daily mutual shelling across the Lebanese-Israeli border between Hezbollah and the Israeli army since the war broke out in the Gaza Strip on October 7th last year.

Israel has been carrying out airstrikes deeper into Lebanese territory in recent weeks, targeting Hezbollah sites, increasing fears of an open war.

Since the start of the exchange of fire, at least 331 people have been killed in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters, in addition to 57 civilians, according to a toll compiled by Agence France-Presse based on the party's statements and Lebanese official sources.

This toll does not include the casualties who fell early today in Al-Habariyya.

In contrast, at least 10 Israeli soldiers have been killed by fire originating from Lebanon.