ISRAELI STRIKE KILLS TWO CHILDREN DEEP IN LEBANON

▶ Chief of staff praises wave of attacks as ‘great achievement’ and claims Hezbollah was hit

A mother and her two children were among four people killed in Israeli air strikes deep inside southern Lebanon yesterday, rescuers told The National.

The woman and her children – reported to be two and 13 years old – were killed when the building in which they were staying was hit by an Israeli strike on the village of Souneh, local rescue team the Islamic Risala Scout Association said.

Israeli strikes were reported in towns and villages across southern Lebanon – including Aadchit, 15km from the border, Chehabiyeh, 25km from Israel, Bouslaiya, Kfar Dunin and Souneh.

Sounds similar to those of jets were also heard over Beirut.

Israel’s military launched a wave of air strikes on Lebanon hours after a rocket attack killed one person and wounded others in the northern Israeli city of Safed. Israel’s jets “began an extensive wave of attacks in Lebanese territory” yesterday afternoon, the military said on X. It gave no further details.

At a meeting with mayors and local authorities in northern Israel, Israeli army chief of staff Herzi Halevi praised the strikes – which he said hit the Iranbacked Hezbollah group.

“There are very great achievements in hitting Hezbollah in Lebanon, but we continue to act,” Mr Halevi said. “This is not the point to stop. There is still a long way to go and we will walk it together.”

A man identified as Hezbollah member Hassan Ali Najem was killed in his house in Aadchit, while nine people were also wounded in a strike.

Unverified footage showed a large plume of smoke and destroyed buildings in the village.

Cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces since the start of the Gaza war has killed at least 238 people in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters, but also about 30 civilians.

At least nine Israeli soldiers and seven civilians have also been killed in exchanges.

“The recent rise in civilian killings in south Lebanon is extremely worrying,” Ramzi Kais, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, told The National. “Since last week, civilians have been killed in at least four Israeli strikes, bringing the

civilian death toll in Lebanon above 30.

“This follows reports by Human Rights Watch and others that Israel has conducted unlawful strikes in the country, including through apparent indiscriminate and deliberate attacks on civilians,” he added.

In November, Human Rights Watch called for an investigation into “an apparent war crime” after three schoolgirls and their grandmother were killed by an Israeli air strike.

Israel’s military confirmed that one of its soldiers, Sgt Omer Benjo, aged 20, was killed in yesterday’s attack on Safed. A reservist was seriously wounded, and several other soldiers were moderately or lightly injured.

Hezbollah has yet to claim responsibility for the rocket barrage.

On Saturday, several people were killed by an Israeli drone strike in Jadra, 60km north of the border.

Chairman of Hezbollah’s executive council Sayyed Al Din said yesterday’s strikes “cannot pass without a response at all”.

“There will undoubtedly be a response, and this response will be at the required and appropriate level,” he added.

On Tuesday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the group would continue to respond proportionately to Israeli strikes, and that the border clashes would not stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.

After the strike on Safed and the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, communities in northern Israel are anxious in expectation of further violence.

Armed residents have set up rapid response force teams to react to any attack or emergency.

In Kfar Vradim, 9km from the Lebanese border and 20km from Safed, the local RFF leader Sivan Yechieli told The National: “We are ready to deal with any infiltration.”

Mr Yechieli blamed Iran for Hezbollah’s attacks.

“Why on earth is this happening? The only answer for that is because of Iran, Iran is financing and keeping more than a fully armed division on our northern border.

“The real issue people miss a lot is that there is no dispute between Israel and Lebanon. There’s no reason for war between us. Israel is not a threat to Lebanon, Lebanon is not a threat to Israel.”

Brig Gen Ilan Lavi, former chief of staff of Israel’s northern command, told The National: “As difficult as today is for us, Safed has been hit before and our people are prepared for this.

“They will not leave Safed, and will not be forced out by Hezbollah or Iran.”

He said the extent of Israel’s response – and whether Hezbollah’s actions necessitated a “boots-on-the-ground operation” – was a question for the future.

Far-right Israeli politicians called for escalation after the attack on Safed.

In a post on social media, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called the strike “a declaration of war” and called for a change to how Israel manages the balance of forces on the Lebanese border.

Former intelligence officer Sarit Zehavi accused Nasrallah of trying to provoke a fullscale conflict.

“He wants to create a situation that there is war, and that will meet his interests because he wants to take over Lebanon. If Hezbollah succeed in dragging Israel into war then nobody will blame him, as he will be seen as the protector of Lebanon,” Ms Zehavi told The National.

She warned that the “pingpong” exchanges of cross-border attacks was at risk of “intensifying until it deteriorates into war”.

“Everything is paralysed,” she said. “Sixty thousand people have left and there is no life next to the border, it just doesn’t exist any more.”

Nasrallah threatened to displace millions of Israelis from the north of the country if allout war did break out.

“All options are on the table. Our eyes are on Gaza as we fight on the border,” he said in a televised speech.

“If you widen [the front], we will widen. If you intensify, we will intensify.

“You will have to find a place to shelter two million people from the north.”

On the Israeli side of the border, a woman in Kfar Vradim told The National that while the situation did not feel as dangerous as the October 7 attacks, she and her family were ready to leave at any moment.

“I have a suitcase packed ready for us to go,” she said.