3 more Hezbollah members killed in clashes with Israeli army near Lebanon border

BEIRUT

The Lebanese Hezbollah group said Friday that three more members were killed in border clashes with the Israeli army.

In a statement, the group identified one fighter as Muhammad Hassan Tarraf and two medics as Hussein Muhammad Khalil and Muhammad Yaqoub Ismail.

The three members were killed in an Israeli aggression targeting the Civil Defense Center in Bleyda, southern Lebanon, the statement said.

The death toll of Hezbollah fighters killed by Israeli forces since Oct. 8 has risen to 211, according to previous statements by the group.

The Israeli army targeted early Friday the town of Al-Wazzani with heavy machine guns and artillery shells, injuring a Lebanese army soldier and damaging homes and livestock farms, according to Anadolu.

The army also shelled the outskirts of the town of Yaroun and a drone strike targeted the town of Bleyda, witnesses told Anadolu.

Against the backdrop of the destructive Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which led Israel to face charges of genocide before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the Israeli-Lebanese border has witnessed exchanges of fire since Oct. 8 last year between the Israeli army on one side and Hezbollah and Palestinian factions on the other, resulting in fatalities and injuries on both sides of the border.

Recently, there have been escalating threats from Israeli officials to expand the attacks on Lebanese territory unless Hezbollah fighters withdraw from the border areas with northern Israel.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Ankara