Israel has killed at least three Lebanese soldiers who were carrying out a rescue operation in the country's south, the army announced Thursday.
"The Israeli enemy targeted Lebanese army personnel in the vicinity of Yater village, in the Bint Jbeil area of the south, while carrying out an operation to evacuate wounded, which led to the deaths of three martyrs, including an officer," an army statement said.
Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported an unspecified number of dead in a strike "on a house in Yater." It said paramedics were wounded when the Israeli air force struck a second time as they tried "to rescue the casualties."
The NNA also reported "a new wave of Israeli attacks on villages" in the southern districts of Tyre and Bint Jbeil overnight.
After nearly a year of genocidal war with Hamas in Gaza, Israel shifted its focus to Lebanon last month, vowing to secure its northern border under fire from Hezbollah. It ramped up airstrikes on the group's strongholds and sent in ground troops.
At least 11 Lebanese soldiers have been killed by Israeli fire since Sept. 23, according to army announcements.
Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin expressed "deep concern" over the strikes on the Lebanese army in a call with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant on Wednesday.
He "emphasized the importance of taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of the Lebanese Armed Forces" and U.N. peacekeepers, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said.
Thursday's strikes come as a donors' conference opens in Paris seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for Lebanon.
Israeli strikes on the Syrian capital Damascus and a military site near the western city of Homs early Thursday killed one regime soldier and injured seven, the Syrian Defense Ministry said.
The attacks targeted the central Damascus neighborhood of Kafr Sousa and a military site in the Homs countryside, the ministry said in a statement, adding the strikes caused "material damage" without elaborating.
Earlier in the day, Syrian state media said explosions were heard in Damascus after Israel struck a residential building in Kafr Sousa.
Israel typically does not comment on specific reports of strikes in Syria.
Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iranian-linked targets in Syria for years but it has ramped up raids since last year's Oct. 7 Hamas incursion.
The attacks come as French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday his country would support Lebanon with 100 million euros ($108 million), as Paris hosted an aid conference with big financial aims but slim diplomatic prospects.
"The war must end as soon as possible, there must be a ceasefire in Lebanon," Macron said sitting alongside the country's Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
The Lebanese government chief in turn called on "the international community to hold together and support efforts... to implement an immediate ceasefire".
France has set a target of raising half a billion euros ($540 million) in aid for Lebanon, 100 million more than an initial U.N. appeal.
As well as its financial contribution, Macron said Paris would "contribute to equipping the Lebanese army" to re-establish control of the country's south in line with UN Security Council resolution 1701, which sealed the end of the last Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.
Paris is also seeking an increase in humanitarian aid for a country to which it has historic ties and which has a large diaspora in France.
The latest conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah has so far claimed more than 1,550 lives, according to an AFP tally based on official figures, and displaced 800,000 people according to the U.N.
Israel launched a ground offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in late September, having exchanged fire over the border for a year following Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack.
Hezbollah must "stop its provocations... and indiscriminate strikes" against Israel, Macron said.
But Israel "knows from experience that its military successes do not necessarily represent victory in Lebanon," Macron added.
