Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement has said that five of its fighters, including the son of a senior lawmaker, had been killed, amid skirmishes at the Israel-Lebanon border since the Israel-Hamas conflict began, AFP reports.

Abbas Raad, son of the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc Mohammed Raad, was “martyred on the road to Jerusalem”, the group said in a statement. It issued separate statements with the identities and photographs of four other fighters who were also killed.

A source close to the family, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, told AFP that Abbas Raad “was killed with a number of other Hezbollah members” in an Israeli strike Wednesday on a house in south Lebanon’s Beit Yahun.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency said Wednesday that “an air strike launched by the Israeli enemy… on a house in Beit Yahun killed four people”. It did not identify the victims.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who visited Beirut on Wednesday, warned in an interview that if the Hamas-Israel ceasefire begins but “does not continue… the conditions in the region will not remain the same as before the ceasefire and the scope of the war will expand”.

 Smoke billows above buildings after an Israeli strike on the outskirts of Damascus on Nov 22, 2023. — AFP
Smoke billows above buildings after an Israeli strike on the outskirts of Damascus on Nov 22, 2023. — AFP

Opinion

Accessing the RSF

Accessing the RSF

RSF can help catalyse private sector inves­tment encouraging investment flows, build upon institutional partnerships with MDBs, other financial institutions.

Editorial

Madressah oversight
Updated 19 Dec, 2024

Madressah oversight

Bill should be reconsidered and Directorate General of Religious Education, formed to oversee seminaries, should not be rolled back.
Kurram’s misery
19 Dec, 2024

Kurram’s misery

THE unfolding humanitarian crisis in Kurram district, particularly in Parachinar city, has reached alarming...
Hiking gas rates
19 Dec, 2024

Hiking gas rates

IMPLEMENTATION of a new Ogra recommendation to increase the gas prices by an average 8.7pc or Rs142.45 per mmBtu in...
Geopolitical games
Updated 18 Dec, 2024

Geopolitical games

While Assad may be gone — and not many are mourning the end of his brutal rule — Syria’s future does not look promising.
Polio’s toll
18 Dec, 2024

Polio’s toll

MONDAY’s attacks on polio workers in Karak and Bannu that martyred Constable Irfanullah and wounded two ...
Development expenditure
18 Dec, 2024

Development expenditure

PAKISTAN’S infrastructure development woes are wide and deep. The country must annually spend at least 10pc of its...