Two Lebanese shepherds killed amid ongoing escalation along Lebanon-Israel border

BEIRUT (AP) — Two Lebanese shepherds were killed in an Israeli strike that hit their house in the town of Houla near the Lebanon-Israel border on Sunday, state media reported.

Lebanon’s National News agency said the men were civilians who used to sell sheep milk to neighboring villages.

Lebanese Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan said in a statement that a separate Israeli strike Sunday morning had damaged his ministry’s office in the town of Bint Jbeil, as well as the city’s commercial market and local government headquarters.

Also Sunday, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah claimed a drone attack on an Israeli military facility in the Golan Heights. It said the strike had hit a radar system for Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system, as well as forces operating it.

The Israeli military did not confirm damage to the radar system but said that two drones “were identified falling in open areas” and “as a result of one of them, a fire broke out adjacent to Katzrin in the Golan Heights and was extinguished shortly afterward.” It said no injuries were reported.

Clashes between Israeli forces and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which have taken place near-daily since October, have escalated in recent weeks.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 400 people in Lebanon, most of them militants with Hezbollah and allied groups but also including more than 70 civilians. Strikes coming from Lebanon have killed at least 10 civilians and 15 soldiers in Israel.

Western countries, in particular the U.S. and France, have come forward with a series of proposals for a cessation of hostilities on the Lebanon-Israel border. Hezbollah has refused to enter into an agreement until a cease-fire is implemented in Gaza.

The Associated Press