Four Lebanese civilians were killed in southern Lebanon on Sunday in a raid carried out by an Israeli march, as Hezbollah threatened Israel to “pay the price for its crimes”.
Lebanon’s national news agency reported that a Lebanese woman and her three grandchildren were killed after an Israeli drone targeted a car they were traveling in on the Ainatha-Aitaroun road in southern Lebanon.
The agency explained that two cars were travelling, one behind the other, the first driven by the journalist Samir Abdel Hussein Ayoub, and the second behind him, driven by his niece, accompanied by her mother and three children, noting that the two cars were subjected to a raid carried out by an Israeli drone which directly hit the second car, causing it to overturn and catch fire.
It was reported that the attack killed the journalist’s sister and his three nephews, aged 10, 12 and 14, and their mother and the journalist himself were also injured.
The Israeli military said Israeli forces collided with a vehicle in Lebanon that was believed to be “suspected of carrying terrorists”, adding: “The allegation of the presence of civilians in the vehicle is subject to investigation and the incident is under review”.
Hezbollah said it fired several Grad missiles at the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona on Sunday in response to the Israeli attack. He added, in a statement, that his attack came “in response to the heinous and brutal crime” committed by Israel.
A member of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, Hassan Fadlallah, told Reuters: “This crime is a dangerous development in Israel’s aggression against Lebanon, and the enemy will pay the price for its crimes against civilians.” Fadlallah added: “The occupation army committed a heinous massacre against a civilian car which led to the death of three girls, aged between 8 and 14, and their grandmother, and the wounding of their mother , as they passed on a public road between the city of Aitaroun and Ainatha.” He added: “This crime is a dangerous development in Israel’s aggression against Lebanon, and it has repercussions, and the enemy will pay the price for its crimes against civilians.”
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel against targeting civilians, threatening to respond in kind.
As sirens sounded in the settlements of Metulla, Kafr Giladi and Kiryat Shmona in the evening, Hezbollah attacked the settlements with Grad missiles, resulting in the death of one Israeli, according to an Israeli army spokesperson.
The party said in a statement: “In response to the brutal and heinous crime committed by the Zionist enemy this afternoon (Sunday), in which he targeted a civilian car on the Al-Muaisara road between Ainata and Aitaroun, and led to the martyrdom of a woman and three of her grandchildren, the mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance at At 7.20pm on Sunday 5/11/2023, the settlement of Kiryat Shmona was bombed with some Grad (Katyusha) missiles. confirms that it will never tolerate harm and aggression against civilians and that its response will be firm and strong.
An Israeli army spokesman said the Lebanese group Hezbollah attacked several Israeli military sites and cities on Sunday and that one of the attacks resulted in the death of an Israeli citizen.
The scene of daily clashes on the Lebanese border between Hezbollah and Israel continued, with the party targeting a number of Israeli sites with guided missiles.
Information on the shooting down of a drone in southern Lebanon is conflicting: after the National News Agency said that Hezbollah’s air defenses had shot down an Israeli drone in the morning, the Israeli army announced in the afternoon that it had intercepted a drone on Lebanese territory. was heading towards Israel.
Al-Wataniya said Hezbollah was able to shoot down an Israeli drone with a surface-to-air missile, and much of it fell on neighborhoods in the cities of Zibdin and Harouf, while flying another drone since the morning hours . over the airspace of Nabatieh, Harouf, Zibdine, Jabshit and Al-Duwair, eastern toll.
It was noted, according to Al-Wataniya, that the second march took place a few minutes after the first was shot down before it retreated from the skies of the region, noting that hundreds of citizens climbed onto the roofs of houses in towns in the vicinity of the moment when the missile exploded and the gear fell off. Images spread on social media showed that people in the area found the remains of the procession.
Although Hezbollah did not announce the shooting down of the drone, the Israeli military said Sunday afternoon that its air defenses intercepted a drone flying towards Israel from Lebanon, which was intercepted while flying over Lebanese territory, underlining that “the drone has been tracked.” Using detection and control systems, it was successfully intercepted by the Israeli Army’s air defense in the airspace of Lebanon,” noting that it also responded with artillery to sources of fire fired from Lebanon.
Announcing that it had carried out a series of operations, Hezbollah mourned 3 of its fighters.
On site, the “Islamic Resistance”, the military wing of the party, announced in separate statements that its fighters had targeted the Al-Dhahra site with missiles and artillery shells and had caused confirmed casualties there, as well as to “an Israeli army”. military vehicle at the Bayad-Blida site with guided missiles, and its crew was killed and injured.”». It also targeted “the Misgav General site with guided missiles”, announcing that it had destroyed some of its technical equipment, and also attacked the Avivim barracks and the Jal al-Deir site with guided missiles.
The Israeli army has intensified bombings in southern Lebanon and an Israeli drone targeted two medical ambulances of the Scout Association of the Islamic Message (Amal Movement), on the outskirts of Tayr Harfa, wounding them and causing 4 deaths.
The Al-Resala Scout Civil Defense Operations Room released a statement, saying: “While two Scout Civil Defense vehicles were carrying out their humanitarian duty by evacuating a number of injured people from one of the houses targeted by the forces of Israeli occupation on the outskirts of Tayr Harfa, Tire district, a drone belonging to the occupation forces… Israeli forces directly targeted the two cars, moderately injuring 4 paramedics, who were later transferred to a hospital in Tire for treatment.
“This crime has been put on the radar of the international community, which must act immediately to deter Israel and stop its crimes and violation of international laws, customs and conventions that prohibit anyone from obstructing the work of paramedics under any circumstances” .
For his part, Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on the “X” platform, saying: “This morning, the IDF raided a terrorist cell attempting to launch missiles from Lebanese territory into Israeli territory in the Ras Naqoura area. During the raid, two cars were spotted arriving in the area from which the cell operated,” indicating that the raid targeted the saboteurs’ cell and not the two cars.
During the inspection of the wounded, Amal Movement MP Ali Khreis confirmed that “Amal is present on site and we are ready, as Parliament Speaker Berri said, if the enemy tries to attack Lebanon, and we will be on site”. Keep an eye on him and we are fully prepared to deal with any advance.” In the south and on the border.
The Civil Protection of the Amal Movement helps to put out the fires that are raging in southern Lebanon following Israeli bombings, while its ambulance provides support in the transport of civilian victims who fall under the bombings in southern Lebanon, underlining that the International Red Cross the task of transporting the wounded and dead of Hezbollah who fall at the border is being undertaken.
The bombing began early in the morning, hitting several areas of southern Lebanon and, as reported by the National Agency, in the vicinity of Alma al-Shaab, Naqoura and Labouneh, amid intense reconnaissance activity flying over the space Tire plane, and Israeli planes. artillery shelled the outskirts of the cities of Muhaibib and Blida.
Likewise, the vicinity of a number of towns (Al-Labouneh, Naqoura, Alma Al-Shaab and Aita Al-Shaab) and the outskirts of Marwahin, Al-Jebin and Balat, were subjected to bombing by the Israeli artillery, accompanied by the launching of incendiary bombs against the forests adjacent to the Blue Line, where fires have destroyed a third of the ancient trees, especially in the vicinity of Alma.
Al-Wataniya reported that an Israeli plane targeted a civilian car between Ainata and Aitaroun, on board which were 3 children, a man and a woman from the Ayoub family. According to media reports, 3 victims were killed.