The Iran-backed armed group, a Hamas ally, has traded cross-border fire with Israeli forces almost daily since the Palestinian group's October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, now in its eighth month.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said "Israeli strikes targeted Najjariyeh and Addousiyeh", two adjacent villages about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the Israeli border just south of the coastal city of Sidon.
The NNA reported "victims" without elaborating.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that three people were killed in Najjariyeh -- two Syrians and a Lebanese man.
An AFP photographer saw ambulances heading to the targeted sites, saying the strikes hit a pickup truck in Najjariyeh and an orchard.
Hezbollah -- which has escalated its cross-border attacks in recent days, prompting Israeli strikes deeper into Lebanese territory -- announced Friday it had launched "attack drones" on Israeli military positions.
It came a day after the powerful Lebanese group said it had attacked an army position in Metula, a border town in northern Israel, wounding three soldiers.
Hezbollah said the attack was carried out with an "attack drone carrying two S5 rockets", which are normally launched from jets.
Also on Thursday the group announced the deaths of two of its fighters in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon. The NNA said they were killed when their car was targeted.
Hezbollah earlier on Thursday said it had launched dozens of Katyusha rockets at Israeli positions in the annexed Golan Heights.
Israel retaliated with overnight air raids on Lebanon's eastern Baalbek region, a Hezbollah stronghold near the Syrian border.
Earlier this week Hezbollah said it had targeted an Israeli base near Tiberias, about 30 kilometres from the Lebanese border -- one of the group's deepest attacks into Israeli territory since clashes began on October 8.
The Wednesday strike came a day after the death of a Hezbollah member, which Israel said was a field commander, in an attack on southern Lebanon.
The cross-border fighting has killed at least 418 people in Lebanon, mostly militants but also including 80 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
Israel says 14 soldiers and 10 civilians have been killed on its side of the border.
Spain denies port of call to ship carrying arms to Israel
Brussels, Belgium (AFP) May 16, 2024 -
Spain has refused permission for a ship carrying arms to Israel to dock at a Spanish port, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Thursday.
"This is the first time we have done this because it is the first time we have detected a ship carrying a shipment of arms to Israel that wants to call at a Spanish port," he told reporters in Brussels.
"This will be a consistent policy with any ship carrying arms to Israel that wants to call at Spanish ports. The foreign ministry will systematically reject such stopovers for one obvious reason. The Middle East does not need more weapons, it needs more peace," he added.
The Spanish minister did not provide details on the ship but Transport Minister Oscar Puente said it was the Marianne Danica which had requested permission to call at the southeastern port of Cartagena on May 21.
El Pais newspaper said the Danish-flagged ship is carrying 27 tonnes of explosive material from Madras in India to the port of Haifa in Israel.
The announcement that permission had been denied comes amid a row between Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialists and his coalition partners, the hard-left Sumar party, over another ship, the Borkum, which is due to dock in Cartagena on Friday.
Pro-Palestinian groups say the Borkum is carrying arms to Israel, prompting Sumar to demand that it be turned away. But Puente said the Borkum was transporting military material to the Czech Republic, not Israel.
Spain has been one of Europe's most critical voices about Israel's Gaza offensive and is working to rally other European capitals behind the idea of recognising a Palestinian state.
Spain halted arms sales to Israel after it launched a military onslaught against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza war began on October 7 when Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel's military retaliation has killed more than 35,000 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
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