Child among 10 killed in Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon

Smoke rises near buildings in Khiam, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as pictured from Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, Lebanon August 23. (Reuters)

• At least eight Hezbollah members were killed in separate Israeli raids targeting the border area in southern Lebanon

BEIRUT: Israeli airstrikes across southern Lebanon on Friday killed at least 10 Lebanese citizens, including a 10-year-old boy, before Hezbollah responded with artillery rounds and rockets across the border.
The intensified Israeli escalation coincided with a meeting between Lebanese Army Commander General Joseph Aoun and French Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Gen. Thierry Garreta.
Both parties “discussed ways to enhance cooperation between the two armies and developments on the southern border,” said the Lebanese Army Command.
A security source said on Friday that the Israeli “focus seemed to be on targeting anything that moves in the field, whether on the front lines or the rear ones, regardless of the affiliations of those moving or their military positions in Hezbollah.” 
The source also pointed to “the young ages of those targeted.”
At least eight Hezbollah members were killed in separate Israeli raids targeting the border area in southern Lebanon.
Some areas were targeted for the first time since the opening of the southern front and the beginning of hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli army on Oct. 8, 2023.
At 8 a.m., Hezbollah announced “the launching of salvos of rockets toward Mount Meron in the Upper Galilee, targeting the espionage equipment at the headquarters of the Air Monitoring and Operations Management Unit at the Meron base with appropriate weapons, hitting it directly, which resulted in destroying it.”
Israeli media reported that the alert level was raised in the north, noting “an interesting day ahead of us.”
It indicated damage to the Meron air base caused by two rockets
The Israeli army has opened an investigation into the incident.
Israeli Channel 12 quoted an army spokesman saying that the military observed the launching of five rockets from Lebanon on Meron and intercepted some of them, without any injuries.
Israeli warplanes raided Tayr Harfa in the western sector about 10 a.m., killing three Hezbollah members. They were Hassan Wissam Harqous, 19, and Qassem Saleh Harqous, 20, cousins from Toura in the south, and Aqeel Qassem Gharib, 34, from Tayr Harfa. 
At noon, an Israeli drone launched an attack with two guided missiles on a car on the road to Ayta Al-Jabal in the Bint Jbeil district, killing a man called Mohammed Ahmed Najm, a Hezbollah member, and his 10-year-old nephew Zulfikar Fadi Radwan.
The child was running toward his uncle’s car to greet him when the missile struck.
Ayta Al-Jabal has been shelled for the first time since the start of the war on Oct. 8.
Israeli airstrikes hit the towns of Mays Al-Jabal and Dhour Kfarkela.
Artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of the towns of Kfarchouba and Kfarhamam.
The heavy machine gun fire from the Israeli army also hit the town of Aita Al-Shaab in the central sector.
A drone carried out an aerial attack on a motorcycle in Aitaroun in the Bint Jbeil district with a guided missile.
The Health Emergency Center of the Ministry of Health announced that two people were killed and three were injured in the airstrikes that targeted Mays Al-Jabal and Aitaroun.
Sirens sounded in the settlements of Al-Malikiyah and Shtula in Western Galilee.
Also on Friday, Hezbollah announced attacking the Israeli military site of Al-Malikiyah with artillery shells.
According to its consecutive statements, it also targeted “Israeli soldiers positioned in the vicinity of Khazzan Hill with artillery shells,” as well as “the Al-Abad military site.”
Israeli media reported “damage inside the Al-Malikiyah site due to Hezbollah’s rocket shelling.”
The Israeli website “Walla” counted 44 people killed in confrontations with Hezbollah since Oct. 8, 2023, including 24 civilians, 19 officers and soldiers, and one foreign worker.
According to the Israeli site, the number of wounded “reached 271 Israelis, including 141 soldiers and officers in the Israeli army.”
The site also counted “1,091 rockets launched from Lebanon toward Israel last month, indicating a threefold increase compared to the beginning of the year.”