Four Hezbollah fighters were killed in an Israeli strike on a car in Bafliyeh, about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the border with Israel, a Lebanese security source told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The pro-Iranian movement confirmed the deaths of three of its fighters.

Hezbollah has stepped up attacks on Israel in recent days, which has responded with increasingly deep incursions into Lebanon and precision strikes targeting the Lebanese Shiite movement's operatives.

In a statement released overnight, Hezbollah said it had used "attack drones" (unmanned aerial vehicles) to strike a military position in northern Israel.

Hezbollah said the action was in response to the killing of its members in Bafliyeh.

Lebanon's Civil Defense confirmed the death toll from the Israeli strike at four, while the state-run National News Agency (ANI) reported that "several people were killed in an Israeli air strike on the road to Bafliyeh".

The Israeli military said northern Israel had been targeted several times by fire from Lebanon and reported having "intercepted two UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) in Lebanese territory".

Since the start of a war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas on May 7, 2023, there have been almost daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli military and Hezbollah, which says it supports the Palestinian Islamist movement.

On Wednesday, five fighters, three from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and two from Hezbollah, were killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese Shiite movement claimed a dozen attacks in northern Israel the same day, including strikes with explosive-laden drones and guided missiles.

At least 399 people, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also 77 civilians, have been killed in Lebanon in seven months of cross-border violence, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, 14 soldiers and nine civilians have been killed, according to an official toll.

The Israeli military's online memorial, which lists its military dead, added the name of a soldier who "fell during operational activity in northern Israel" on May 8, the third soldier killed in the north this week.

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