Overnight strike on Habariyeh kills 7 rescuers, Hezbollah retaliates

Hezbollah targeted Wednesday a command center in Kiryat Shmona in response to an overnight strike that killed seven rescuers in an emergency center in Habariyeh.

Speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, a Jamaa Islamiya official said "seven rescuers" were killed in a strike on an emergency centre in Habariyeh near the Israeli border.

Several militant groups in Lebanon operate health centers and emergency response operations.

Jamaa Islamiya's emergency responders said in a statement that "a number" of people had been killed, and called the strike a "heinous crime".

Another official from Jamaa Islamiya, also requesting anonymity, said a dozen rescue workers were in the emergency center at the time of the strike, adding that bodies were being pulled from the rubble.

Jamaa Islamiya, or the Islamic Group, is a Lebanese Sunni political and militant organization closely linked to Palestinian group Hamas.

The Secretary-General of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya Sheikh Mohammad Takkoush had said Tuesday that his faction decided to join the fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border because of Israel's crushing offensive on the Gaza Strip and its strikes against Lebanese towns and villages killing civilians, including journalists, since the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct.7.

Hamas allies in Lebanon, mainly Hezbollah, have exchanged near-daily fire with Israeli forces along Lebanon's southern border since war erupted in the Gaza Strip following Hamas's October 7 attacks on southern Israel.

Hezbollah says it is acting in support of Gaza and Hamas.

The hostilities have raised fears of all-out conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which fought a devastating war in 2006.