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In a significant escalation of clashes along the Lebanon-Israel border, an Israeli airstrike on a family car in southern Lebanon has resulted in the deaths of three young children and their grandmother, leaving the mother in critical condition.

The Israeli military contended that the car was carrying terrorists, a claim disputed by Lebanese civil defense officials who assert that the victims were civilians.

Samir Ayoub, a Lebanese journalist and relative to the bereaved family, was in a car directly in front of the targeted vehicle and bore witness to the event.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah group retaliated swiftly with a barrage of Grad rockets into the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, which resulted in one Israeli civilian casualty.

This cross-border violence has brought the longstanding tension between Hezbollah and Israel into sharp focus, marking one of the most severe upticks in hostility since the outset of the Gaza conflict on 7 October.