Escalated Conflict: Israeli Airstrikes and Hezbollah Retaliation in Southern Lebanon

Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least eight fighters and one child. Hezbollah responded with artillery and rockets across the border. The conflict, occurring alongside the Gaza war, has sparked fears of a broader regional conflict. Over 600 people, including civilians, have been killed in the recent clashes.

Israeli airstrikes across southern Lebanon on Friday resulted in the deaths of at least eight fighters and one child, security sources reported, with Hezbollah retaliating through artillery rounds and rockets across the border.

The ongoing exchange of fire between the Israeli military and Iran-backed Hezbollah across Lebanon's southern border coincides with intensifying hostilities in the Gaza war, raising concerns of a potential full-scale regional conflict. According to party death notices and a security source, Israeli strikes targeted and killed six Hezbollah fighters in various towns in the south.

A separate strike near Aitarun claimed the life of another fighter, whose affiliation with Hezbollah remains unconfirmed. An Israeli strike on Aita, about 14 kilometers north of the Israeli border, killed a Hezbollah fighter and a child. Hezbollah named the fighter as Mohammad Najem, who, according to the Israeli military, was part of the group's rocket and missile unit.

The Israeli military announced it had targeted Najem and two other Hezbollah fighters in the south. It also reported that several projectiles fired from Lebanon had landed in northern Israel without causing injuries. Meanwhile, Hezbollah's press office confirmed the group had launched rockets and artillery on various Israeli military positions. Since the hostilities escalated last October, over 600 people in Lebanon, including over 400 Hezbollah combatants and more than 130 civilians, have died, Reuters reported.

(With inputs from agencies.)