Hezbollah member killed in Israeli strike on S. Lebanese village

BEIRUT, July 23 (Xinhua) — A Hezbollah member was killed on Tuesday, and a civilian was wounded, in an Israeli airstrike in the border area in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua.
The military sources, who spoke anonymously, said that an Israeli drone targeted, with three air-to-surface missiles, a van in the village of Shaqra, killing its driver, Sadiq Atef Atwi, who is also a member of Hezbollah, and wounding his companion.
Civil defense personnel rushed to the scene to transport the body of the dead and wounded person to a hospital, and extinguished the fire that destroyed part of the car, the sources said.
Lebanese military sources noted that Israeli warplanes on Tuesday carried out six air strikes on five towns and villages in the eastern and central sectors, destroying five houses and damaging 11 others.
According to the sources, Israeli artillery also bombed with about 30 shells 10 towns and villages in southern Lebanon, leading to the outbreak of several fires that destroyed large forest areas before civil defense personnel were able to extinguish them.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced that in response to the Israeli attack on Shaqra and other villages, the group launched several attacks on several Israeli sites, including the base of Mount Neria, the headquarters of the al-Sahel command in Beit Hillel, the Marj site, and the Ramim barracks.
Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on Oct. 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas’s attack on Israel the day before. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon. ■