Tensions intensified on the Lebanese-Israeli border on Friday. Two civilians were killed in an Israeli drone strike near a phone transmission station in Tayr Harfa.
The victims were Ghaleb Hussein al-Hajj, head of the Civil Defense paramedical staff of the Islamic Mission Scouts, and Youssef Fadi Jalloul, a technician with Powertech, the company responsible for maintenance work at the mobile phone operator, Touch.
The strike occurred when a Touch team was carrying out maintenance work on a phone transmission station, assisted by rescue workers from the Islamic Mission Scouts’ Civil Defense.
In a statement issued on Friday, Touch offered its condolences to the victims’ families. It also affirmed that it “takes the utmost precautions to preserve the safety of its team and all accompanying teams, including rescue workers, Lebanese army soldiers, and Powertech personnel, by obtaining prior authorization, granted by the competent authorities, before traveling to any location.” The mobile phone operator company had indeed obtained “authorization from UNIFIL today (Friday) to travel to Tayr Harfa to carry out maintenance work,” the statement said.
The Israeli army continued its bombardment on Friday afternoon, targeting Odaisseh with phosphorus shells. This triggered a fierce and persistent fire that spread to the outskirts of Odaisseh, as far as the residential areas of Kfar Kila and the olive groves. However, civil Defense teams were unable to reach the scene due to the intensity of the Israeli shelling.
Incendiary bombs and phosphorus shells were also dropped on Jabal al-Labbouneh, near Naqoura and Alma al-Shaab.
Israeli artillery also targeted the villages of Labbouneh, Khiam, Zebqine, Yarine, Jebbayn, Wadi Slouki, and Tlousa, while raids were carried out on Kfar Kila and Blida.
Earlier in the day, Israeli bombardments targeted the Marjayoun caza, while reconnaissance aircraft overflew the district of Tyre.
For its part, Hezbollah announced that it had targeted the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Shmona with a salvo of Katyusha rockets, and the Yiftah barracks with a salvo of Falaq missiles, in retaliation for Israeli attacks on civilians, including the latest strike on Tayr Harfa on Friday.
Hezbollah also claimed responsibility for attacks on the Israeli sites of Sammaka (Kfarchouba Hills) and Malkiya, as well as the Kherbet Ma’ar base.
The pro-Iranian group also announced the death of Ghaleb Hussein Al-Hajj and another Hezb member, Ahmad Ali Mehdi, from Adchit. It also confirmed the death of one of its fighters, killed on Thursday in a drone strike targeting a Rapid car on the Bafliyeh-Arzoun road.
Additionally, the Israeli army’s Arabic-speaking spokesman, Avichai Adraee, announced on his X account on Friday that the army had attacked “a Hezbollah infrastructure in Kfar Kila” and “a military building in Blida”. It was also reported that Israeli aircraft raided two Hezb members who were spotted in the vicinity of a military building in Yaroun, “carrying combat weapons.”
On the Israeli side, Channel 12 reported that 20 missiles were fired at Kiryat Shmona from Lebanon, sparking a fire in the settlement.
Similarly, Israeli media reported on Friday morning that “two anti-armor missiles were fired from Lebanon towards the Upper Galilee,” causing a fire.
