Israeli Air Strikes Hit Southern Lebanon

At least two Israeli air strikes hit southern Lebanon near the coastal city of Sidon, state media said.

Hamas ally Hezbollah and its arch-foe Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7.

"Israeli warplanes carried out strikes on the town of Ghaziyeh," the state-run National News Agency (NNA) said, adding that a vehicle was targeted and ambulances rushed to the scene, without providing further details.

While most of the exchanges in recent months have been limited to areas near the frontier, Ghaziyeh is some 30 kilometers from the nearest Israeli frontier and less than five kilometers from the city of Sidon.

A photographer reported the sound of at least two successive strikes in Ghaziyeh, with dark smoke billowing across the area.

One of the strikes appeared to have targeted a hangar close to the main coastal highway.

Video circulating on social media showed large plumes of smoke arising from at least two strikes.

The Israeli military last week said it killed a Hezbollah commander, his deputy and another fighter in a strike in the south Lebanon city of Nabatieh.

The strike on a residential building also killed seven members of the same family, according to a security source, while another strike elsewhere killed a woman, her child and stepchild.

The latest uptick in violence has caused international alarm, with fears growing of another full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah like that of 2006.

Since October, cross-border exchanges have killed at least 269 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 40 civilians.

On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.