Two Lebanese civilians were killed in an Israeli shelling of the town of Shebaa in southern Lebanon today, Saturday, according to a statement by the mayor of Shebaa to the French news agency.

The mayor of the city, Mohammad Harb, said that “a man and his wife were killed in their home due to the Israeli shelling,” and a reporter for the French agency reported earlier that there was heavy shelling in the area near Shebaa.

The Israeli army clashed with the Lebanese Hezbollah organization on Saturday in the latest skirmishes along the northern border, which came amid concerns that a second front could open with Israel waging war on the Gaza Strip.

According to the Israeli army, the clashes began on Saturday afternoon after around 30 mortars were fired at military positions in the contested Mount Dov area on the Lebanese border.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that it fired mortars and guided anti-tank missiles at the sites.

The Israeli army stated that it shelled the source of the fire with artillery and carried out a drone strike on a terrorist cell that was planning to execute a guided anti-tank missile attack against forces in the area.

The army did not immediately provide information on possible casualties among the Israeli army forces.
The clashes came hours after the Israeli army announced that it had killed three gunmen who attempted to infiltrate Israel from Lebanon on Saturday morning.

Also, three suspected drones were shot down over northern Israel during the night, as well as a missile fired towards a military drone. The Israeli army stated that it carried out a drone strike against a Hezbollah site in Lebanon in response.

Israel exchanged gunfire with Hezbollah and the Palestinian factions allied with it in Lebanon several times in recent days, although the retaliatory attacks remained limited in scope. At least four Israeli soldiers, three from Hezbollah, and five Palestinians were killed in the clashes.

According to the "Times of Israel," the Israeli army reinforced its forces in northern Israel amid fears that the Hezbollah organization stationed in Lebanon would open a second front in the war triggered by the unprecedented Hamas attack last weekend from the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the deaths of over 1,300 Israelis, most of them civilians.

The Israeli army announced on Friday that some areas in the northern town of Metulla had been declared a closed military zone. The Metulla areas had advised residents in recent days to leave the town amid rising tensions, and with elevated alert levels, Hezbollah stated on Friday that it would be “fully prepared” to join its Palestinian ally Hamas in the war against Israel when the time is right.

Iran also issued threats of a broader confrontation, and Israel responded to Hamas's unprecedented attack by striking targets of the movement in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of around 2,200 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The Israeli army also stated that it had killed about 1,500 people inside Israel.