Israeli forces opened fire on a funeral procession in the southern Lebanese border village of Kfarkela on Sunday, injuring at least one woman, according to reports.
Mourners in Kfarkela, much of which has been reduced to rubble, were burying 25 bodies in a mass funeral when an Israeli drone hovered above the procession, footage shared online showed.
Al-Manar TV, affiliated with Hezbollah, reported that one woman was wounded in the shooting.
Initial reports claimed that a Lebanese soldier attending the funeral had died from Israeli gunfire, but Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency later clarified that the soldier’s death was due to cardiac arrest, not gunshot wounds.
Many residents in south Lebanon have been forced to bury their loved ones elsewhere temporarily as Israeli forces remain stationed in the region.
While most of Israel’s army withdrew following a US-brokered ceasefire deal, some troops continue to occupy five strategic border positions in defiance of the agreement. Despite the ceasefire, Israel has continued launching strikes inside Lebanon, claiming they are intended to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its presence in the area.
In a separate incident, an unexploded ordnance detonated in the border village of Blida, injuring a civilian who was reportedly collecting scrap metal. The man was hospitalised and is said to be in stable condition.
Elsewhere in northeast Lebanon, a Syrian child was killed, and his brother severely burned in an explosion believed to be caused by unexploded ordnance in the border town of Al-Qasr in the Hermel district. Security forces have since cordoned off the area.
Concerns are mounting in Lebanon over worsening security conditions in neighbouring Syria. Violent clashes in Syria’s coastal region between the new government’s military forces and loyalists to the ousted Assad regime have left over 1,000 people dead, including hundreds of civilians.
In response to the instability, the Lebanese army has reinforced its presence along the porous border with Syria to prevent potential spillover following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December.
