Smoke rises following an Israeli shelling in Khiam, Lebanon, on Dec. 8, 2023. Four Hezbollah fighters and two members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement were killed on Friday in confrontations on the Lebanese-Israeli borders, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua. (Photo by Taher Abu Hamdan/Xinhua)
BEIRUT, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Four Hezbollah fighters and two members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement were killed on Friday in confrontations on the Lebanese-Israeli borders, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that four Lebanese civilians and two Lebanese army soldiers were wounded due to the Israeli bombing targeting border areas in southern Lebanon.
The sources explained that the four Hezbollah fighters were killed in two separate Israeli raids, one targeting valleys in southwest Lebanon and the other targeting a village in the central sector.
The two PIJ members were killed in an Israeli raid that targeted a forested area in southwest Lebanon.
The sources added that the four Lebanese civilians were injured in Israeli artillery shelling that targeted the villages of Rachaya Al-Fakhar and Al-Adaysseh in southeast Lebanon.
They noted that the two Lebanese army members suffered from suffocation from fires that broke out as a result of Israeli artillery shelling that targeted their center in the vicinity of Aita Al-Shaab village and were transported to a hospital for medical care.
Military sources told Xinhua that Israeli heavy artillery bombed 26 towns and villages in the southwest and 15 in the southeast of Lebanon.
Also, Israeli warplanes and drones carried out nine airstrikes that targeted homes and empty areas in the eastern and western sectors, destroying three houses and causing damage to 16 others.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said its fighters carried out attacks on seven Israeli sites, killing one and injuring another.
The Lebanon-Israel border witnessed increased tension since Oct. 8 after Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets toward Shebaa Farms in support of the Hamas attacks on Israel the previous day, prompting the Israeli forces to respond by firing heavy artillery toward several areas in southeastern Lebanon.
The confrontations have killed 143 on the Lebanese side, including 98 Hezbollah members, a Lebanese army soldier, one member of the Amal Movement, 16 members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and 27 civilians, according to security sources. ■
