BEIRUT   -   Israe­li air strikes on Friday hit an area of southern Leb­anon far from the border, with Hezbollah announc­ing one dead fighter and of­ficial media saying two Syr­ian children were killed. Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, has traded cross-border fire with Israeli forces al­most daily since the Pales­tinian group’s October 7 at­tack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, now in its eighth month. The Iran-backed Leba­nese movement has inten­sified its attacks in recent days, including using new weapons. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said “Israeli strikes target­ed Najjariyeh and Addou­siyeh”, two adjacent villag­es just south of the coastal city of Sidon, about 30 ki­lometres (19 miles) from the Israeli border. The Is­raeli military said in a statement that its air force “struck terrorist infra­structure” where Hezbol­lah fighters operated in the Najjariyeh area. The “infra­structure contained sev­eral compounds used by Hezbollah’s aerial defence array and posed a threat to Israeli aircraft”, it add­ed. Hezbollah announced a fighter from Najjariyeh had died. The NNA said two Syrian children were killed in the Najjariyeh strike, identifying them as Osa­ma and Hani al-Khaled. An AFP photographer said the strikes hit a pickup truck in Najjariyeh and an orchard. The Israeli army statement said that “Hezbollah’s aerial defence array deliberately operates from within civil­ian areas, thus endanger­ing the lives of civilians in southern Lebanon”. Hezbol­lah announced Friday it had launched “attack drones” on Israeli military positions, a day after the powerful Leb­anese group said it had at­tacked an army position in Metula, a border town in northern Israel, wounding three soldiers.