Child among three killed in Israeli attack on southern Lebanon

Two motorcycles reportedly targeted in strike, with a passing car also hit

An Israeli air strike on Zibqin, southern Lebanon, in late August. Israeli forces and Hezbollah have been engaged in low-level conflict since the start of the Israel-Gaza war. AFP

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Three people, including a child, have been killed in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon, health authorities said on Friday. The strike occurred in the Kfarjoz area near the city of Nabatieh, 10km from the border with Israel.

The area has been targeted by Israeli air strikes and artillery fire – including attacks using white phosphorus, which burns and pollutes farmland – since October 8, when the Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah intervened in the Israel-Gaza war.

A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that one of the dead was “a fighter in Hezbollah” and the two others were “civilians”.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the strike “targeted two motorcycles on the Nabatieh-Kfarjoz road”, and that a passing car was also hit.

On Friday, the Israeli military said “approximately 20 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory” around Safed, where the Israeli army Northern Command is based.

“Most were successfully intercepted, the rest fell in open areas,” the army said, adding that no injuries were reported but teams were working to “extinguish the fire that erupted due to a fall in the area”.

Israel and Hezbollah are engaged in a tit-for-tat conflict, with Israel often attempting to strike key Hezbollah commanders and weapons specialists with drone and air strikes, and the group retaliating. They came close to full-scale war in late August when Israel claimed it had launched a “pre-emptive” strike on hundreds of Hezbollah positions.

Often, Hezbollah's retaliation takes the form of inaccurate rocket barrages, but the group also has a small number of powerful and accurate long-range missiles, mostly held back in reserve. The group also launches salvoes of explosive drones against Israeli military facilities, such as barracks and observation posts.

Cross-border violence since early October has killed about 622 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters, but including at least 142 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, including in the occupied Golan Heights, authorities have reported the deaths of at least 24 soldiers and 26 civilians.

About 100,000 Lebanese have been displaced in the violence, according to the UN, while on the Israeli side around 60,000 people have left their homes.

Experts say a full-scale conflict would likely kill hundreds, if not thousands of people within days or weeks and cause massive infrastructure damage in both countries.