Son of senior Hezbollah MP killed in Israeli strike: Source

The son of a senior Hezbollah lawmaker was killed Wednesday in an Israeli strike in south Lebanon, a source close to the family said.

Abbas Raad, son of the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc Mohammed Raad, “was killed with a number of other Hezbollah members” in an Israeli strike on a house in Beit Yahun, the source said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Hezbollah made no immediate comment.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency said that “an air strike launched by the Israeli enemy… on a house in Beit Yahun killed four people,” and wounded others. It did not identify the victims.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, the frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen escalating exchanges of fire, mainly between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, but also Palestinian groups, raising fears of a broader conflagration.

The strike came just hours after a four-day truce in Gaza was announced between Israel and Hamas, a Hezbollah ally.

Since the cross-border exchanges began, more than 100 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, according to an AFP tally. Most are Hezbollah combatants but they also included at least 14 civilians, three of them journalists.

On the Israeli side, six soldiers and three civilians have been killed, according to authorities.