[1/2]Footage from Al-Mayadeen TV shows emergency teams working next to a burnt vehicle at the site where Hezbollah said three children were killed in an Israeli attack, in southern Lebanon, November 5, 2023. AL-MAYADEEN TV/Handout via Portal acquires license rights
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, Nov 5 (Portal) – An Israeli attack on a car in southern Lebanon killed three children and their grandmother on Sunday, Lebanese authorities said, while the Israeli army said an Israeli attack was carried out by Hezbollah from Lebanon citizen was killed in northern Israel.
The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah said it responded to the Israeli attack that killed three girls between the ages of 10 and 14 by firing a barrage of rockets at the town of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel.
It is the first time Hezbollah has announced the use of this specific weapon during four weeks of clashes with Israeli forces, underscoring the risk of escalation.
In a statement, Hezbollah said it would never tolerate attacks on civilians and would respond “firmly and decisively.”
“The enemy will pay the price for its crimes against civilians,” Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah told Portal.
The Israeli military said its troops attacked a vehicle “identified as a suspected means of transport for terrorists” in Lebanon on Sunday and that it was investigating reports that civilians were inside.
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called it a “heinous crime.” Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Portal that Lebanon would file a complaint with the United Nations over the killing of civilians, including children, in the attack.
Footage from al-Mayadeen television showed rescue workers pulling one of the injured people out of the still-smoldering remains of the car.
According to a report from the Lebanese security forces, the children were killed when Israel targeted the car they were in on the road between the villages of Aynata and Aitaroun.
Her grandmother was also killed and her mother was injured.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire across the border since the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel went to war on October 7. It was the worst violence across the border since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The Israeli military said an Israeli was killed in a Hezbollah attack across the border on Sunday, without giving further details.
Mikati met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Amman earlier on Saturday and stressed the importance of working towards a ceasefire in Gaza and stopping Israeli aggression in southern Lebanon, the state news agency reported.
DRONE COMPLETED
Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli military said its air defenses intercepted a drone flying toward Israel from Lebanon while it was over Lebanese territory and that an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon hit the Yiftah area in northern Israel.
Hezbollah announced several attacks on Israeli positions on the border using guided missiles and other weapons.
The Israeli army said the drone was identified as it flew toward Israel deep in Lebanon.
Lebanon’s state news agency National News Agency earlier reported, citing its correspondent, that Hezbollah shot down an enemy drone over southern Lebanon, with wreckage falling over the villages of Zebdine and Harouf, 30 km (20 miles) from the border.
There was no comment from Hezbollah on the report.
Hezbollah has declared the use of anti-aircraft missiles for the first time in recent hostilities.
In an incident 3 km (2 miles) from the border, a scout group from Lebanon’s Amal Movement, a Hezbollah ally, said four of its medics were injured by an Israeli drone strike.
The Al-Risala Islamic Scout Association said the drone directly hit two cars as rescuers evacuated people from a house hit in an earlier Israeli attack near the village of Tayr Harfa.
Reporting by Laila Bassam and Tom Perry in Beirut; Maytaal Angel and Emily Rose in Jerusalem; Writing by Tom Perry; Edited by Conor Humphries, Giles Elgood and Aurora Ellis
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