Hezbollah foils Israeli infiltration attempts in south Lebanon

Hezbollah and Israeli forces exchanged fire along the Lebanon-Israel border on Wednesday, ahead of expected talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden.

Hezbollah said Wednesday that its fighters repelled more than three Israeli army attempts to infiltrate southern Lebanon, as Israel intensifies its ground offensive against the Lebanese, Iran-backed group.

In a statement issued after midnight, Hezbollah said its fighters detonated an explosive device targeting Israeli forces and engaged in combat with them as they "attempted to infiltrate the border town of Blida" in the southeast.

In another statement, it said its fighters targeted Israeli soldiers with artillery "and rocket-propelled weapons" as they attempted to advance towards the border area of al-Labbouneh at 4:55am.

The group later said it targeted Israeli soldiers who tried to infiltrate the coastal border town of Naqoura twice and fired rockets and shells at other troops who tried to advance towards the border towns of Mays al-Jabal and Mhaibib "from several directions".

Hezbollah fighters "bombed... a gathering of Israeli enemy troops in... Mays al-Jabal with artillery shells", Hezbollah said, after earlier saying that clashes were ongoing.

In Naqoura, Hezbollah said it targeted soldiers with a suicide drone in their second attempt to infiltrate into the coastal Lebanese town Wednesday.

The group has thwarted a number of such infiltration attempts since the Israeli military launched ground operations in Lebanon on September 30.

- Two killed in Kiryat Shmona -

Israeli emergency responders said two people were killed Wednesday in a rocket attack on the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, as the Israeli army and Hezbollah exchanged fire along the border.

"We found a man and a woman aged around 40 years old, unconscious and injured by shrapnel. We carried out medical examinations, but their injuries were serious and we had to declare them dead on the spot," said emergency service provider Magen David Adom in a statement.

Hezbollah claimed the strike on Kiryat Shmona, saying it targeted "a gathering of enemy forces" with a rocket salvo. Ofir Yehezkeli, Kiryat Shmona's acting mayor, said the two people killed were a couple who were walking their dogs when a rocket fell near them.