Hezbollah says clashes ongoing with Israeli forces in southern Lebanon town of Khiam

BEIRUT, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Hezbollah fighters clashed directly with Israeli forces in the southern Lebanese border town of Khiam on Saturday night, the militant group said, as Israeli airstrikes killed at least nine people across southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah said its fighters engaged Israeli troops using light and medium weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, with fighting still ongoing at the time of the statement.

Lebanon's official National News Agency reported that Israeli airstrikes killed at least nine people and wounded seven others across southern Lebanon Saturday night.

In the border district of Marjayoun, an airstrike on a house in Qantara killed four members of the Al-Saghir family, including both parents and their two children. In the nearby Nabatieh district, four members of the Al-Souli family died when Israeli warplanes struck a house in Mayfadoun where they had taken refuge after fleeing their home village of al-Taybeh. The dead included two brothers, the wife of one and their child. Five others were wounded. A separate strike in Majdal Selm killed one person and wounded two.

Hezbollah said it carried out multiple retaliatory strikes against Israeli military targets, including rocket barrages near the Khiam detention center and the Metula site. The group also claimed to have destroyed an Israeli tank with a guided missile near al-Taybeh and launched a drone attack on a maintenance facility south of Haifa.

The fighting marks a sharp escalation since Hezbollah fired rockets toward Israel on March 2 -- its first since a ceasefire took effect Nov. 27, 2024 -- prompting an Israeli military campaign of airstrikes across southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs. ■