Woman and six-year-old girl killed in Israeli air strike near Lebanese border

Two Hezbollah fighters also killed in a separate strike on Thursday

Amal Al Dorr was killed in an Israeli air strike near Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon. Photo: Hasan Dorr

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An Israeli air strike killed a woman and a six-year-old girl on Wednesday in the village of Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon, 6km from the border with Israel.

The girl, Amal Al Dorr, had left her house to “pick some vegetables to prepare breakfast”, local outlet Al Akhbar reported, following an interview with her father, Hussein.

Amal's two siblings were at school and could not find her upon their return home, the outlet reported.

Amal's uncle Hassan Dorr posted a photo of his niece on social media platform X.

“Tomorrow there's no Amal (hope). Tomorrow there's no school. Tomorrow, there's no 'good morning, uncle'. Tomorrow there's no 'take a picture of me and send it to Baba', Tomorrow, there is no innocent smile or a 'high five',” he wrote.

This is not the family's first tragedy.

Al Akhbar said Amal's brother Mahmoud had also been killed by Israeli gunfire, without specifying when this happened.

The girl had asked to go to her family home to “visit and greet her grandfather”, Hussein said.

The Israeli army said it had hit “a Hezbollah operational command centre in the area of Mansouri”, a village a few kilometres from Majdal Zoun.

Lebanon's National News Agency identified the woman killed in the Israeli strike on Majdal Zoun as Khadija Salman. Her daughter “sustained critical injuries”, the agency said, without giving further details.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah said it responded to “Israeli attacks on civilian villages and homes, especially … in Majdal Zoun”, by firing Katyusha rockets at Matzuva, a kibbutz over the border in northern Israel.

The Israeli military said it was “reviewing” claims that civilians were killed as a result of its air strike.

Hezbollah fighters killed in Nabatieh

Two Hezbollah fighters were also killed on Thursday in an Israeli drone attack in Kfar Remen, a city in the Nabatieh Governorate region of southern Lebanon, a Hezbollah spokesperson told The National.

Three people injured in the strikes have also been transported to hospitals in the region.

A day after Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, the Iran-backed Hezbollah opened a pressure front to try to deter Israel from its assault on Gaza. Hezbollah says its campaign is in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

Most of the air strikes and rocket attacks between Hezbollah and Israeli forces have since taken place close to the border.

However, in recent weeks, Israel has struck further into Lebanese territory. It hit Nabatieh last week, killing seven civilians in one day and marking an expansion of the conflict.

Cross-border violence has resulted in the deaths of at least 271 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but 43 of them civilians, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.

On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.

Israel has demanded Hezbollah withdraw its forces to 30km from the border and threatened to continue launching military operations in Lebanon if the condition is not met. Hezbollah has refused to negotiate as long as Israel's war in Gaza continues.