Israeli Drone Strike Kills Two Near South Lebanon Funeral Procession

Three Israeli soldiers wounded in Hezbollah drone explosion

An Israeli drone fired on a car near the funeral procession for Hussein Ibrahim Makki, a Hezbollah commander who was killed earlier this week. The drone strike killed at least two people.

Details are still emerging, but both slain were young men, and the rescue agency that arrived on the scene said one may have been a member of Hezbollah.

The strike on the car took place in Qana, near the city of Tyre which was the site of the strike that killed Makki. Israel was also reported to have attacked Houla, Ayta ash-Shaab, Shiheen, and Wadi Zibqine.

Israel presented the strike on the car as targeting a “terror cell” on its way to carry out an attack. It’s not clear that this was the case, nor is it clear where they would be traveling to, beyond possibly, the funeral.

Meanwhile, a Hezbollah drone exploded in the northern Israeli town of Metula and wounded three Israeli soldiers, one of them seriously. Reportedly, the drone targeted a vehicle identified as carrying Israeli forces. The drone itself was armed with a pair of rockets, which exploded when it crashed.

Earlier, Hezbollah fired scores of rockets at northern Israel, resulting in sirens going off, some interceptions by Iron Dome, but no damage reported so far.

Israel and Hezbollah have been carrying out tit-for-tat strikes on virtually a daily basis for weeks. Today’s attacks came just a day after a Hezbollah strike against Golani Junction, the deepest strike into northern Israel yet in the war.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.