BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug 17, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli air strike on Saturday in southern Lebanon killed nine people, as the Israeli military reported hitting weapons stores of the Hezbollah movement.

The toll from the strike in the Nabatieh area included "a woman and her two children" and left five other people wounded, two critically, Lebanon's health ministry said in a statement.

Israel's military, on its Telegram channel, said the air force had struck a weapons storage facility of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement overnight "in the area of Nabatieh", which is about 12 kilometres (seven miles) from the nearest point of the Israeli border.

Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged near-daily fire over their border since war in the Gaza Strip began last October between Palestinian Hamas militants and Israeli forces.

The latest incident comes alongside fears of a wider regional war, which international mediators have been trying to avert through talks on a truce in Gaza.