Hezbollah issued three separate statements announcing the killing of the three members as a result of the Israeli bombing of southern Lebanon.
This development raises fears of additional escalation on the border with Israel, which was subjected to intense bombing on Monday, affecting several border towns and causing population displacement.
For its part, the Lebanese army said in a statement on Monday evening that border areas in the south were bombed by Israel. A number of mortar shells fell in the courtyard of a Lebanese army center outside the town of Rmeish, resulting in an officer being slightly injured.
The killing of the members came after Hezbollah was quick to deny its responsibility for the infiltration operation, which was later claimed by the Jihad movement.
The Israeli army had previously announced that “following an initial report, Israeli army soldiers killed a number of armed suspects who infiltrated Israeli territory from Lebanese territory,” without specifying the identity of the party to which they belonged.
Hours later, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Jihad movement, announced in a statement via the Telegram application “its responsibility for the operation,” which it said it had carried out as part of the “Al-Aqsa Flood+.”
In response to the infiltration, Israel successively bombed a number of border villages and towns in southern Lebanon.
The National News Agency, the official agency in Lebanon, reported that Israeli forces bombed the Al-Dahaira border area in the western sector with artillery, reaching the towns of Marwahin, Al-Bustan, and Al-Zaloutiyah.
The mayor of Al-Dhahira, Abdullah Al-Gharib, told Agence France-Presse, “Agricultural fields on the outskirts of the town were subjected to intense Israeli artillery shelling, preceded by the sound of intermittent bursts,” which continued for nearly three-quarters of an hour.
The bombing soon expanded to include other towns, including Aita al-Shaab, amid intense overflights by Israeli reconnaissance planes.
The Lebanese Army announced in a statement that the outskirts of the towns of Aita al-Shaab and Dhahira and other border areas were subjected to air and artillery bombardment by Israel, calling on “citizens to take the utmost precaution and caution and not to go to the areas adjacent to the border in order to preserve their safety.”
An Agence France-Presse correspondent in the town of Aita al-Shaab reported the displacement of dozens of Lebanese families and Syrian refugees from the areas targeted by the Israeli bombing.
Commenting on the bombing that followed the infiltration operation, the head of the United Nations Interim Mission in South Lebanon (UNIFIL), Major General Aroldo Lazaro, on Monday urged the parties concerned to “exercise the utmost levels of restraint and use UNIFIL’s liaison and coordination mechanisms to prevent further escalation,” according to a statement on the matter. Spokesman for the international force.
The tension comes the day after Hezbollah announced that it had fired “large numbers of artillery shells and guided missiles” at three Israeli sites in the disputed Shebaa Farms area.
The Israeli army said that it responded with artillery shelling on southern Lebanon.
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