Deadly strikes continue in south Lebanon, Hezbollah hits Israeli troops
Shafaq News- Beirut
Israeli strikes killed and wounded at least 20 people across southern Lebanon on Sunday, Lebanese media and official figures indicated, as border areas were left “blurred into ash” amid widespread destruction.
In the Tyre district, Lebanese media reported that a strike on al-Maaliya killed three workers —two Syrians and one Egyptian. Three people were wounded in Safad al-Battikh, while two others were injured when an Israeli drone targeted a motorcycle in Jouaiya. In Srifa, five people were injured, among them four paramedics, wounded when a strike landed near their medical center.
Strikes also hit the Nabatieh and Bent Jbeil districts, where the Lebanese Health Ministry confirmed that an attack on Arabsalim killed one person and wounded three others, including a child. In Haris, a motorcycle driver was killed in a separate strike.
The ministry condemned the repeated attacks and renewed its call to protect medical facilities, citing the Geneva Conventions, which require safeguarding such sites during armed conflict.
Israeli operations extended beyond airstrikes, with local media reporting that forces rigged and detonated several homes in the town of Shamaa, in Tyre’s western sector. An analysis by The New York Times, based on satellite imagery and verified footage, described widespread destruction across more than a dozen border towns and villages, including damage to government buildings and civilian infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, and mosques, noting that “villages are now blurred into ash, with the white of rubble marking town after town.”
According to Lebanese authorities, more than 8,500 Israeli violations —including excavation and bulldozing operations, shelling, and the use of phosphorus munitions were recorded since March 2. The Lebanese Health Ministry has recorded 2,679 deaths and 8,229 injuries nationwide.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced it targeted Israeli soldiers and vehicles near al-Salaa hill in al-Qantara with rockets, after striking another group in al-Bayada with an attack drone, claiming a “confirmed hit,” as retaliation for Israeli violations and deadly attacks on southern villages.
The Israeli army reported 735 injuries among its officers and soldiers since early March, including 44 in critical condition and 100 moderately injured, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a “special project” to counter drone threats is underway, noting that progress will take time.
ישראל תהיה חזקה מאי פעם pic.twitter.com/jlJXW5wmMy
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) May 3, 2026
The army also reported launching an interceptor toward a “suspicious aerial target,” with the outcome under review, and detecting several rockets and explosive drones fired by Hezbollah that allegedly fell near Israeli troop positions without causing casualties. Air raid alerts in the Avvivim area were attributed to interceptor activity targeting decoy objects.
לפני זמן קצר, שוגר מיירט לעבר מטרה אווירית חשודה שזוהתה במרחב בו פועלים כוחות צה"ל בדרום לבנון. תוצאות היירוט בבדיקה.בנוסף, באירועים נוספים היום, זוהו מספר שיגורים ורחפני נפץ שנורו על ידי ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה ונפלו בסמוך למרחב בו פועלים כוחות צה"ל בדרום לבנון, ללא נפגעים
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 3, 2026
Israel has also established a “buffer zone” several miles deep inside southern Lebanon, which it says will remain until the Hezbollah threat is contained.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz described the military approach as modeled on operations in Gaza, involving large-scale destruction.
