BEIRUT, Jan  21, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - An Israeli strike Sunday on south Lebanon
killed a Hezbollah fighter, a source close to the group told AFP, with a
security official saying the target was a high-level commander who survived.

Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the
Lebanese-Israeli border has seen near-daily exchanges of fire between Israel's
army and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group, an ally of Hamas.

The strike on a car in south Lebanon "killed a member of Hezbollah's
protection team", a Lebanese security official told AFP, adding that the senior
commander he was protecting "escaped death".

A source close to Hezbollah confirmed a Hezbollah fighter had been killed,
but denied that a high-level official had been the target of the strike.

Both sources spoke on condition of anonymity for security concerns.

According to the security official, the Hezbollah commander was in a
vehicle with three other people, behind the car that was hit.

The source close to Hezbollah said the strike also wounded a civilian woman
who was in the area at that time of impact.

State-run Lebanese media earlier reported one death in the Israeli drone
strike on Kafra, a village near the border.

"The strike that targeted a car in Kafra killed one person while others
suffered moderate and minor injuries," the official National News Agency (NNA)
said.

It added that the drone struck near an army checkpoint, destroying a
four-wheel drive vehicle and setting another car on fire.

Another security official told AFP there were no casualties among Lebanese
soldiers.

Hezbollah later said one of its fighters had been killed "on the road to
Jerusalem" -- the phrase the group has been using for members killed by Israeli
fire.

The group said its fighters had fired at northern Israel in response to the
Kafra strike.

Israel targeted several locations in Lebanon's south Sunday, the NNA said,
including five houses that were destroyed in the border village of Markaba,
without causing casualties.

The Israeli army said it struck Hezbollah positions in Markaba as well as
other targets in south Lebanon including "a Hezbollah operational command
centre and military compound".

Hezbollah also said it targeted Israeli military positions across the
border on Sunday.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in early October, tensions have
soared across the region, with violence involving Iran-backed groups in Iraq,
Syria and Yemen stoking fears of a wider conflagration.

Israel has repeatedly bombarded Lebanese border villages, with the violence
killing more than 195 people in the country, including at least 144 Hezbollah
fighters, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, 15 people have been killed in the northern border
area, of whom nine were soldiers and six civilians, according to the Israeli
army.