Four Lebanese civilians killed in Israeli strike on border village

AMMAN (Reuters) – An Israeli airstrike killed four members of a family in a house in a border village in southern Lebanon on Sunday, civil defence and security sources said.

The four were killed in Meiss al Jabal, which has suffered extensive damage in regular exchanges of fire between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group since the start of the war in Gaza last October.

In a statement, Hezbollah said it fired “tens” of Katyusha rockets at the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, a northern town close to the Lebanese border, in retaliation.

Airstrikes and shelling have taken place sporadically but both sides have pulled back from all-out war.

More than 250 Hezbollah members and 75 civilians have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon since October, security sources there say. In Israel, missile fire coming from Lebanon has killed around a dozen troops and several civilians, Israeli sources say.

Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip stunned Israel with a cross-border raid on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and 252 hostages taken, according to Israeli tallies.