HOULA: Hezbollah on Wednesday held a funeral in southern Lebanon for two of its fighters and a woman, all members of the same family, who were killed in an Israeli strike the day before.

A photographer saw hundreds of people turning up for the funeral in Houla, near the border with Israel that has seen deadly exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces since the start of the Gaza crisis.

Tuesday’s strike killed a man and his son who were initially identified as civilian victims but later claimed by Hezbollah as fighters “martyred in battle”. During the funeral, the coffins of Hassan Hussein, his wife Ruwaida Mustafa who was also killed in the same strike, and their 25-year-old son, Ali Hussein, were draped with the Hezbollah flag, the photographer said.

The family’s three-storey house was completely razed, the photographer added. Hezbollah movement has targeted Israeli positions across the border almost daily since an Oct 7 raid by its Palestinian ally Hamas.

Israeli forces along the country’s northern border have responded with strikes against Hezbollah positions as well as targeted operations against senior officials. Ali Fayyad, a member of Lebanon’s parliament for Hezbollah, issued fresh threats against Israel during the funeral.

“Do not make a mistake, think a thousand times before committing an error,” he was quoted as saying by Lebanon’s National News Agency.

“We will use every method at our disposal… if the enemy decides to move towards an open war.” Shortly after the deadly strike on Tuesday, Hezbollah fired at targets in northern Israel.

On Wednesday Hezb­ollah announced it had launched an explosive drone against an Israeli army position on the border “in response to the Zionist enemy’s aggression against the villages of the south and civilian homes”.

US envoy Amos Hochstein was on a tour of Lebanon and then Israel earlier this week in an effort to reach a negotiated resolution to the cross-border hostilities. Hezbollah has insisted its fighters would not stand down before a ceasefire in Gaza.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said recently that any truce in Gaza would not change Israel’s goal of pushing Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon, by force or diplomacy.

The border clashes since October have killed at least 302 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but including 50 civilians, according to a tally. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2024