Flurry of attacks heighten Israel-Hezbollah fears
By David Gritten
Cross-border fighting between Israeli forces and the Lebanese group Hezbollah have intensified in recent days, raising fears of a further escalation.
Hezbollah announced on Thursday the deaths of two fighters, after the Israeli military said it had struck sites in southern and eastern Lebanon.
On Wednesday, 14 Israeli soldiers were wounded in a missile and drone attack.
Hezbollah claimed it was a response to strikes a day earlier that the Israeli military said killed two commanders.
There have been exchanges of fire almost every day since the day after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in October. Hezbollah has said it is acting in support of the Palestinian group. Both are backed by Iran and proscribed as terrorist organisations by Israel, the UK and other countries.
More than 330 people have been killed in Lebanon, including at least 66 civilians, according to Lebanese authorities and the UN, while the Israeli military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed in Israel.
The hostilities have also displaced tens of thousands of people from border communities in northern Israel and southern Lebanon.
On Thursday morning, Hezbollah’s media office put out statements saying that two fighters had been “martyred on the road to Jerusalem” – a phrase it has been using to refer to fighters killed by Israeli fire. It named them as Mohammed Jamil al-Shami and Ali Ahmed Hamada but provided no further details.
