Two pro-Iranian Hezbollah fighters were killed on Monday in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon, escalating an already tense situation in the area.

The Israeli army said it attacked members of Hezbollah in Houla in southern Lebanon.

It added that military targets in other places along the border with Israel were also struck.

The Lebanese Health Ministry had earlier said two people had been killed in an Israeli attack in Houla.

Hezbollah later said, in a statement, that the dead were two of its fighters.

The group usually does not elaborate on when, where and how its members die.

Hezbollah on Monday claimed several attacks on Israeli troops and military positions in northern Israel, including a drone strike on a base and an attack on Israeli soldiers.

Hezbollah claimed that the soldiers were trying to “infiltrate” the Lebanese border.

Since the war in the Gaza Strip began more than eight months ago, there have been daily military confrontations between the Israeli army and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.

Hezbollah is sympathetic to the Hamas movement in Gaza. There have been casualties on both sides, most of them members of Hezbollah.

(dpa/NAN)