A UNIFIL (the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) patrol drives past the wreckage of a car that was targeted in Israeli strike early on March 2, 2024, near the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura. (PHOTO / AFP)

BEIRUT - Three Hezbollah fighters were killed and one member of the civil defense injured on Saturday in an Israeli strike on a civilian car in southern Lebanon, Lebanese medical sources told Xinhua.

The sources, who spoke anonymously, said that an Israeli drone fired two air-to-surface missiles at a civilian car that was driving on the international sea route in the Naqoura area, adjacent to the city of Tyre.

The sources said that Israel carried out five raids on three towns and villages in the western and central sectors of the border area

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An official source in the Civil Defense told Xinhua that vehicles from the Civil Defense and the Lebanese Red Cross rushed to the scene to extinguish the fire and transport the casualties to a hospital in Tyre.

The sources added that Israel carried out five raids on three towns and villages in the western and central sectors of the border area and fired 30 shells on eight towns and villages in the eastern and western sectors.

The Lebanon-Israel border has been witnessing increased tension since Oct 8, 2023, after Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets toward Israel in support of the Hamas attack on Israel the previous day, prompting Israel to respond by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon.

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The confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel have killed 332 people on the Lebanese side, including 226 Hezbollah members and 61 civilians, according to Lebanese security sources.