BEIRUT

Two people were killed on Monday in the southern Lebanese town of Houla following an Israeli drone strike, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

The incident was part of an intensifying conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah along the Lebanon-Israel border.

The official Lebanese news agency confirmed the deaths, noting that the drone strike targeted the Aabra area of Houla early in the morning.

In a related escalation, Israeli artillery bombarded the border village of Ayta ash Shab with heavy shelling, while Israeli forces fired machine guns and flares over several southern Lebanese villages near the Blue Line.

Simultaneously, Hezbollah launched a series of retaliatory strikes, deploying drones and missiles against Israeli military installations.

The group claimed that its aerial attacks targeted the Ya'ara Barracks, a command center for Israel's 300th Western Brigade, and the Sant Gin Logistics Base, hitting strategic positions and causing multiple casualties among Israeli forces.

Hezbollah said the attacks were in retaliation for the assassination of one of its leaders in the Qadmus region of southern Lebanon.

The group also targeted the Zarit Barracks and other Israeli military positions with rocket fire and artillery, resulting in significant damage and casualties.

Hezbollah also reported that its fighters repelled an Israeli incursion attempt near the Ayta ash Shab forest. The group engaged Israeli soldiers with rocket fire and artillery, forcing them to retreat and causing confirmed casualties, it added.

Fears have grown of a full-fledged war between Israel and Hezbollah amid an exchange of cross-border attacks, especially after the July 30 assassination of senior Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukr in Beirut.

The escalation comes against the backdrop of a deadly Israeli onslaught on Gaza, which has killed nearly 40,100 people since last October following an attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

* Writing by Mohammad Sio.