3 Lebanese killed, and 3 troops, 4 UN peacekeepers hurt in Israeli strike on Sidon

Israel targets car as it passed through the Awali checkpoint

BEIRUT: The Lebanese army said three of its troops and four Malaysian UN peacekeepers were wounded Thursday in an Israeli strike near an army checkpoint in the southern city of Sidon.

“The Israeli enemy targeted a car while it was passing through the Awali checkpoint in Sidon, which led to the killing of three citizens who were inside it, in addition to the injury of three soldiers manning the checkpoint and four members of the Malaysian” contingent in the UNIFIL peacekeeping force, the army said in a statement.

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“The Israeli enemy’s raid on a car in Sidon resulted in the deaths of three people and the injury of three others,” the ministry said

Woman killed near Beirut

Earier, a woman was killed in an Israeli strike targeting a car on a key road linking the capital Beirut with the Bekaa Valley and Syria, a security source told AFP.

The source, who requested anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, said a man was also injured in the strike.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported earlier that “an enemy drone targeted a car in Araya,” adding that the strike left the route blocked to vehicle traffic.

An AFP photographer at the site saw a charred car and another badly damaged vehicle on the highway that links Beirut to the Syrian capital of Damascus, through the Lebanese mountains.

Israel has been at war with Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah movement since September 23, when it escalated its air raids in south Lebanon, Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley after a year of cross-border fire. A week later it sent in ground troops to southern Lebanon.

Israel has frequently targeted vehicles, often affiliated with pro-Iran groups, in its air campaign.

Thursday’s strike is the fourth time the road has been targeted within two weeks.

Two cars were targets on the same route last week, including a van loaded with Hezbollah ammunition, a Lebanese security source said.

In a statement, the municipalities of Araya and Kahale, two Christian villages in the area, “denounced the use of international roads for the movement of armed men and weapons, which endangers innocent people”.

They asked the Lebanese army to take the necessary measures to prevent them from doing so.