BEIRUT: Two people were killed – one a civilian and the other a commander of Iran-backed Hezbollah's anti-tank missile unit, according to the Israeli military – and seven others wounded on Wednesday in renewed Israeli hostilities in several towns in southern Lebanon.
An Israeli drone targeted a motorcycle in the town of Jouaiyya at midday, hitting a passing car and injuring those inside.
The Health Ministry's emergency operations center said two people, Hezbollah member Hassan Fares Jeshi and a civilian named Mohammed Hassan Shoumar, were killed, while four others were wounded.
The Israeli military said: “Hassan Fares is the commander of Hezbollah's anti-tank missile unit.”
Israeli artillery shelling and airstrikes continued on border towns known for their loyalty to Hezbollah. These attacks hit the towns of Blida, Tayr Harfa, Khiam, Jebbayn, Chihine, Majdelyoun, Naqoura, Zibqin, Chaqra, Baraachit, Halta, Kounine, Mhaibib and Kfarkela.
The emergency operations center said that “phosphorus artillery shelling targeted the town of Shebaa and caused a citizen to suffer suffocation, requiring hospitalization.”
Hezbollah responded by attacking “Raheb site and Jal Al-Alam site with artillery shells and Malikiyah site with rocket weapons”.
Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier for the second day in a row over Beirut.
Lebanon's National News Agency said Israeli planes did the same in two waves over the cities of Sidon and Jezzine and various parts of the country's south, with activists sharing footage of the planes violating Lebanese airspace on social media.
Residents of Beirut and dozens of towns in the Mount Lebanon region experienced severe panic on Tuesday when Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier at low altitude and caused a loud explosion.
Border villages adjacent to the Blue Line in the western and central sectors suffered hours of tension later in the day as the Israeli military fired flares while Hezbollah carried out nine operations against Israeli military positions.
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech on Tuesday that the response to last week's assassination of prominent Hezbollah military leader Fuad Shukr was “inevitable.”
Israelis are also expecting a response from Hezbollah and Iran to the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran just hours after Shukra's death in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: “The Israeli military is constantly developing its defensive and offensive capabilities.”
Meanwhile, leaflets with pictures of children who were victims of the Majdal Shams attack in the occupied Golan, which killed 12 people, were dropped in predominantly Druze areas, especially the Choueifat area, on Wednesday. They bore the words: “We will avenge them, Hezbollah.”
Israel has accused Hezbollah of shelling a soccer field in Majdal Shams, but Hezbollah strongly denies responsibility for the attack, while Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has declared his support for the Iranian-backed group.
