BEIRUT: Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes killed three people in the country's south on Wednesday, with Hizbollah announcing two of its fighters among the dead, the latest cross-border violence amid fears of a full-blown regional war.
Hizbollah, an Iran-backed Hamas ally, has traded near daily fire with the Israeli army since the Palestinian group's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel which triggered the Gaza war.
Ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel are set to resume on Thursday in Qatar, with top diplomats scrambling to avert wider conflict after Iran and Hizbollah vowed revenge for recent high-profile killings.
The Lebanese health ministry said in a statement that an "Israeli enemy" strike on the southern town of Marjayoun killed two people and wounded four others, noting the toll was provisional.
The official National News Agency said an "enemy drone targeted a car" in the town square, a usually busy area home to shops.
The health ministry also said one person was killed and another wounded in an Israeli strike in south Lebanon's Blida village.
The Israeli military said in a statement that its air force had "struck Hizbollah military structures" including in the Blida area.
It later added that Israeli aircraft "eliminated two Hizbollah fighters" in the Marjayoun area. The pro-Iranian movement also announced on Wednesday evening the death of two of its fighters in Israeli fire.
Lebanon's health ministry earlier reported that an "Israeli enemy" strike in Abbassiyeh, near the southern city of Tyre, wounded 17 people, including two teenagers and an eight-year-old girl, with four people in "critical" condition.
Hizbollah said it launched "volleys of Katyusha rockets" at Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel in response to the Abbassiyeh strike. The Israeli army said "a number of projectiles" from Lebanon fell in "open area" without causing injuries.
The Iran-backed group claimed a number of other attacks on Israeli troops and positions on Wednesday, including with "explosive-laden drones."
The violence since October has killed some 571 people in Lebanon, most of them Hizbollah fighters but also including at least 118 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, 22 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, according to army figures.
As part of efforts to de-escalate the situation, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne is set to visit Beirut on Thursday, diplomatic sources said, on the heels of a visit Wednesday by US envoy Amos Hochstein.-AFP