Israeli Airstrikes in Lebanon Kill at Least 7, Including a Child, State Media Report

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila on August 21, 2024.(AFP)
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila on August 21, 2024.(AFP)
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Israeli Airstrikes in Lebanon Kill at Least 7, Including a Child, State Media Report

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila on August 21, 2024.(AFP)
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila on August 21, 2024.(AFP)

Five Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon on Friday killed at least eight people, including a child and several Hezbollah fighters, state media reported.

A drone strike in the town of Aita al-Jabal killed a 7-year-old child along with one other person, the Lebanese health ministry said.

The Israeli military said the strike killed Mohammad Mahmoud Najem, an operative in Hezbollah’s drone and rocket unit.

Iran-backed Hezbollah later confirmed Najem’s death and also announced the deaths of four other members Friday.

Photographs from the scene showed a burned-out small pickup truck.

The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has been clashing nearly daily with Israeli forces in the border region for more than 10 months. The clashes have killed more than 500 people in Lebanon — most of them fighters but including more than 100 civilians and noncombatants — and 23 soldiers and 26 civilians in Israel.



Iran FM Tells French, British Counterparts It Has Right to Retaliate to Haniyeh Assassination

Iranians drive past Iranian and Palestinian national flags hanging on buildings at Enghelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 19 August 2024. (EPA)
Iranians drive past Iranian and Palestinian national flags hanging on buildings at Enghelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 19 August 2024. (EPA)
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Iran FM Tells French, British Counterparts It Has Right to Retaliate to Haniyeh Assassination

Iranians drive past Iranian and Palestinian national flags hanging on buildings at Enghelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 19 August 2024. (EPA)
Iranians drive past Iranian and Palestinian national flags hanging on buildings at Enghelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 19 August 2024. (EPA)

Iran's new Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told his French and British counterparts in telephone conversations on Friday that it was his country's right to retaliate against Israel for last month's assassination of a Hamas official in Tehran, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Iran blames Israel for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on July 31, which Araqchi was quoted as saying was "an unforgivable violation of Iran's security and sovereignty," adding: "Punishing the aggressor is Iran's right."

Israel has neither claimed nor denied responsibility for Haniyeh's death in the Iranian capital.

France's Stephane Sejourne and Britain's David Lammy had called to congratulate Araqchi on his appointment this week as Iran's new foreign minister.