At least 8 killed in Israeli strikes on south, including child

Eight people, including a child and six Hezbollah fighters, were killed Friday in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon.

Two people, a seven-year-old child and a Hezbollah fighter, were killed in a drone strike on a house and a car in the southern village of Aita al-Jabal in the Nabatiyeh district, hours after a strike on Tayrharfa killed three Hezbollah fighters.

Israeli drones and warplanes also struck a town near Tyre, the southern border towns of Kfarkela, al-Khiam, and Mays al-Jabal, and a motorbike in Aitaroun. Two Hezbollah fighters were killed in the strikes on Mays al-Jabal and Maarakeh, near the coastal city of Tyre. In Aitaroun, one person was killed and another injured.

Hezbollah announced, in a statement, the death of six of its members, two of them from Tayrharfa, one from Aita al-Jabal and one from Mays al-Jabal, "on the road to Jerusalem". It said it targeted surveillance equipment in the Meron air base and a command center in Ein Zeitim in north Israel with salvos of rockets, in response to Israeli attacks on villages and homes in south Lebanon.

It also targeted Metula, the Ramim barracks, the Malkia post, Tallat al-Khazzan, two posts in the occupied Kfarshouba Hills, the Hadb Yaroun post, al-Abbad post, and artillery positions in Khirbet Maer.

Israel's military said its aircraft "eliminated" members of "a terrorist cell that was planning to fire projectiles from the area of Tayrharfa" and a "significant terrorist in Hezbollah's Rocket and Missile Unit in southern Lebanon" in Aita al-Jabal, identifying him as Mohammad Mahmoud Najem.

The Israeli army had raided overnight the southern border town of Mays al-Jabal, shelled the outskirts of al-Naqoura and al-Labbouneh, and opened fire with heavy machineguns at Aita al-Shaab.

The army also fired flare bombs overnight into Friday on Lebanese villages along the border.