KFARKILA, Lebanon: Hezbollah said Friday a young man killed by Israeli gunfire along the Lebanese-Israeli border was a fighter with the militant group.
The man, 21-year-old Mohammad Tahhan, died of wounds sustained on Friday when he was struck during a protest at the border.
The National News Agency (NNA) said in the afternoon two demonstrators were wounded “by two Israeli shells that fell near them after a number of youths tried to enter the town of Metula” in northern Israel.
Palestinian and Lebanese youth had gathered in the border area as part of a rally against the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. A small group later breached the fence and crossed the border into Israel, triggering the shooting.
In the aftermath, “the Lebanese army and security forces were deployed... to stop the youths from advancing” again, the NNA added.
The Israeli military said troops fired shots toward the group after they sabotaged the fence and crossed over briefly, confirming on Twitter its tanks had “fired warning shots at a number of rioters... who had crossed into Israeli territory.”
The protesters, some carrying Palestinian flags and that of Hezbollah gathered in the Khiam plain, opposite Metula, a few dozen meters (yards) from the border, an AFP photographer said.
They later set fire to the area, with the flames spreading “all the way to the border,” he added.
After sunset a dozen protesters still lingered by the fence, prompting tear gas from the Israeli side.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun strongly condemned “the crime committed by Israeli forces” when they opened fire at the group.
On Thursday, three rockets were fired from southern Lebanon near the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh toward Israel, a Lebanese military source said. Israel’s army said the rockets landed in the sea.
