Smoke rises after an Israeli strike, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in southern Lebanon, March 31, 2026. (Credit: Stringer/ Reuters)
BEIRUT — Violence continues in south Lebanon, with deadly airstrikes and ground fighting between the Israeli army and Hezbollah persisting on Wednesday, particularly around Khiam (Marjayoun), nearly a month into the war. Israel also continues its strikes in the South, saying it seeks to expand its “security zone.”
According to our correspondent in south Lebanon, Israeli units tried to enter the northeastern district of Khiam, where they are facing heavy gunfire and rocket attacks. Hezbollah shelled gatherings of Israeli soldiers on the eastern, southern, and southwestern outskirts of the locality to prevent any support for the unit engaged in the clashes.
On Tuesday into Wednesday night, ground fighting already seemed, according to Hezbollah, to be focused on the coastline near Shamaa (Sour district), the eastern sector of Khiam, and along the Taybeh-Qantara axis. Heavy clashes also took place with light and medium weapons, rockets, and artillery near the fortress. Farther east, in the Hasbaya district, Israeli soldiers positioned themselves on Lebanese territory near Shebaa, firing three artillery shells toward the outskirts of the locality before withdrawing.
In this tense context, the Israeli army stated Wednesday morning that Reserve Brigade 8 “is operating under the command of Division 91 to expand the security zone in order to protect the residents of the north” of Israel. Following reports by several media outlets that it had withdrawn from several border towns in south Lebanon, the Lebanese army countered that it was still maintaining troops in these villages.
Deadly strikes in South Lebanon
Returning to the Israeli offensive, Israeli soldiers at dawn targeted a center of the Islamic Health Committee affiliated with Hezbollah in Mansouri (Sour), wounding five people lightly and destroying the center’s vehicles parked on site. Several missiles also hit an area between Bnaafoul (Saida district) and Houmin Tahta (Nabatieh district). Another Israeli strike in the morning killed Mohammad Hamiye, his wife, and their two daughters in Houmin Tahta (Nabatieh).
The Israeli air force also carried out a strike on Debbine (Marjayoun) and another on Rmedieh (Sour), injuring several people. Civil Defense teams evacuated the wounded and cleared the road between this village and Qana, south of Sour.
Airstrikes were also carried out on Haris (Bint Jbeil) and the Fakher area in Rashaya al-Foukhar (Hasbaya), near the Hasbani River. Four Syrians were killed in a strike that hit a car on the Maaroub-Derdghaya road (Sour). The vehicle’s driver, Mohammad Younes, was also killed, according to our correspondent. At the same time, two more people died in an Israeli drone strike on a scooter on the Mansouri road (Sour).
Hezbollah intercepts an Israeli warplane
Meanwhile, Hezbollah claimed several attacks on Israeli units in Qantara (Marjayoun), Deir Siryane (Marjayoun), and the Owaida hill in the village of Odaisseh. The group said it also fired toward eastern Haifa as part of Operation “Khaybar 2,” from the Mahana’im camp east of Safed, from Yir’on, from “Ami’ad base” north of the Sea of Galilee, from the Nimra base west of the Sea of Galilee, as well as from Kiryat Shmona and the Ramot Naftali base. Hezbollah also announced that it intercepted an Israeli warplane over south Lebanon with a surface-to-air missile. Our correspondent in the region reported that a missile was fired at an Israeli helicopter over the Sour region, forcing it to turn back.
In West Bekaa, four people were killed in at least four Israeli airstrikes at dawn on Sohmor, according to our correspondent.
Hezbollah's 'Southern Front' commander killed
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said that three missiles fired late Tuesday to Wednesday by the Israeli navy at the Jnah neighborhood in southern Beirut killed the “Southern Front commander” of Hezbollah, Youssef Ismail Hachem. A security source told AFP and another source close to the group identify him as Hezbollah’s military official for Iraq. These strikes also killed, according to online condolence messages, a fighter from the pro-Iranian group from the Naboulsi family, a nephew of the former media office chief, who was assassinated in 2024. In total, these attacks killed seven and wounded more than 20, according to the health ministry.
On Tuesday night into Wednesday, the Israeli army claimed responsibility for these two separate strikes on “the Beirut area,” saying it hit a “senior commander” of Hezbollah as well as a “high-ranking terrorist,” without further details. On Tuesday, an Israeli strike hit a vehicle in the Khalde area, south of Beirut, killing two people and injuring three civilians. Another bombing also struck the Hadath neighborhood, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, during the night.
