JERUSALEM

The Israeli army said late Wednesday that it killed two Hezbollah fighters in a drone strike on the town of Marjayoun in southern Lebanon.

It marked the first Israeli attack on the town since hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah escalated on Oct. 8, 2023, according to Anadolu.

In a statement posted on the social media platform X, the Israeli military said that in addition to the drone strike, Israeli warplanes also struck a building used by Hezbollah in the town of Ayta ash Shab, and artillery shelling targeted the village of Rmeish in Bint Jbeil district.‏

Earlier on Wednesday, Lebanon's Ministry of Health reported that two people were killed and four others were injured in an Israeli airstrike on Marjayoun Square.

Hezbollah has not responded to the Israeli military's claims, but the group released a statement confirming that its fighters had launched a barrage of Katyusha rockets at an Israeli military command post in the Beit Hillel barracks.

Fears have grown about a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah amid a months-long exchange of cross-border fire, especially with Hezbollah threatening military retaliation after the assassination of its top commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb on July 30.

The escalation comes against the backdrop of an Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip which has killed nearly 40,000 people since last October following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio