Beirut, Lebanon – Israeli strikes in south Lebanon on Wednesday killed four civilians including two children and wounded nine other people, a Lebanese security source said, after Israel said it “began a series of strikes in Lebanon”.
“A woman was killed along with her child and her stepchild in a strike that targeted Sawwaneh,” while a fourth civilian was killed in a strike on a building in Adshit, the security source told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Nine other people were wounded in the strikes on south Lebanon, the source added.
The Israeli raids targeted several different locations in south Lebanon, around 10 to 25 kilometers (six to 15 miles) from the Israeli border.
Images purportedly of the raids circulating on social media showed wide destruction.
The Israeli military said Wednesday its fighter jets “began a series of strikes in Lebanon”, raising fears of a war between the two countries after months of cross-border violence.
The strikes came hours after unclaimed rocket fire from Lebanon wounded seven people in northern Israel, five of them in the town of Safed, medics said.
Lebanese group Hezbollah has been trading near-daily fire with Israeli troops since the outbreak of the war in Gaza more than four months ago.
The cross-border violence has killed at least 247 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 34 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
On the Israeli side, nine soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.