Lebanon media, officials say Israel strike kills civilian
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Lebanese state media, an official and a minister said an Israeli strike killed a civilian in the country's south on Tuesday, the latest casualty in almost nine months of clashes.
Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, have traded near-daily cross-border fire since the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack on Israel sparked war in the Gaza Strip.
"The strike that targeted Bustan killed a civilian," said Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, after earlier reporting Israeli warplanes had struck the village.
Bustan mayor Adnan Ahmed told AFP the strike killed Muhieddin Abu Dallah, a farmer in his 50s, and damaged his house and agricultural machinery.
In a post on social media platform X, Agriculture Minister Abbas Al Hajj Hassan described Abu Dallah as "a Lebanese farmer who resisted the occupation by remaining steadfast on his land, and sacrificed his life".
The violence between Hezbollah and Israel has killed 493 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also including 95 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
On the Israeli side, at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed, according to authorities.
Fears had mounted that the cross-border clashes could turn into a full-blown conflict until the past week, when the fighting dropped in intensity.