(MENAFN- Jordan Times)
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanon's health Ministry said Israeli strikes killed three people on Monday in the country's south, with Hizbollah announcing one of its fighters killed and a rescue group mourning a paramedic.
Since last week, tensions have soared as Iran and Tehran-backed groups, including Hizbollah, vowed revenge for the killing of Hamas's Political leader in Tehran and Israel's killing of the Lebanese group's military chief in Beirut.
Hizbollah has traded near-daily fire with Israel in support of its ally Hamas since the Palestinian fighter group's October 7 surprise attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.
The twin killings have raised fears of full-blown war between Israel and Hizbollah, which last went to war in the summer of 2006.
Lebanon's health ministry said an "Israeli enemy strike that targeted a motorbike" in the southern village of Ebba killed one person, wounded another and caused a pregnant woman who was near the site to miscarry due to "shock".
It was not immediately clear whether the person killed was a fighter or a civilian.
Earlier, the health ministry said an "enemy raid" near the cemetery in the border village of Mais Al Jabal "killed two people".
An Israeli army statement said that "soldiers identified a terrorist cell operating a drone" in the Mais Al Jabal area, and that air forces "struck and eliminated the terrorists".
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) said one of the dead in Mais Al Jabal was a paramedic with the Risala Scouts association, which is affiliated with the Hizbollah-allied Amal movement.
The frontline village is less than two kilometres from the border with Israel and has experienced heavy bombardment since the cross-border clashes began, forcing most residents to leave.
Hizbollah later also announced that a fighter from Mais Al Jabal had been killed by Israeli fire.
Ali Abbas, a Risala Scouts rescue worker, told AFP the paramedic had travelled by motorcycle with another person to inspect the site of an earlier raid when they were hit.
Hizbollah claimed a series of attacks on Israeli military positions on Monday, while the NNA reported Israeli strikes on other areas of south Lebanon.
The Iran-backed group said early Monday it had targeted military sites in northern Israel with "explosive-laden drones" in response to previous Israeli "attacks and assassinations" in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military said "numerous suspicious aerial targets were identified crossing from Lebanon" into northern Israel, starting a fire and leaving an officer and a soldier "moderately injured".
Also Monday, Lebanon received 32 tonnes of emergency medical supplies from the World Health Organisation for "treating war wounds" in efforts to increase readiness for "escalation in the Israeli aggression on Lebanon", a health ministry statement said.
Health Minister Firass Abiad said another supply shipment was due to arrive in the coming days, according to the statement.
Lebanon is ill-prepared for war, with public services including the health sector hit hard by a more than four-year-long economic crisis that has also pushed many medical professionals to emigrate.
Amid rising tensions, Israeli jets broke the sound barrier twice in the skies over Beirut around noon, according to the NNA, sparking worry in the Lebanese capital.
The cross-border violence since October has killed at least 550 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but also including at least 116 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
On the Israeli side, including the occupied Golan Heights, 22 soldiers and 25 civilians have been killed, according to army figures.
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