South Lebanon witnesses a military escalation between Hezbollah and Israel (Reuters)

The Amal Movement and Hezbollah announced the killing of 13 of their members in confrontations with the Israeli army in southern Lebanon, while an opinion poll in Israel showed that most Israelis support launching a large-scale military operation against Lebanon.

In a statement today, Friday, the Amal Movement mourned 3 of its members, saying that they were martyred while carrying out their national and jihadist duty in defense of Lebanon and the south.

The official Lebanese News Agency reported that 3 members were killed in an enemy raid on a house in the town of Qantara, south of Lebanon, during midnight on Friday.

For its part, Hezbollah announced the killing of two of its members in confrontations with the Israeli army in southern Lebanon, saying that they "rose martyrs on the road to Jerusalem," without giving further details, hours after it mourned 8 of its fighters, bringing the number to 10 since yesterday evening.

With this announcement, the death toll of the Amal Movement (led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri) rises to 11, while the death toll from Hezbollah has risen to 202 since last October 8, with the start of the confrontations in southern Lebanon.

In another development, Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that two missiles were fired at an Israeli site in the occupied Kfar Shuba hills in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah announced that it twice bombed the Kiryat Shmona settlement and its military barracks, in response to the Israeli raids that targeted the city of Nabatieh and the town of Al-Sawanah.

The party also announced that it had carried out 8 other operations against Israeli forces in the sites of Birkat Risha, Naqoura al-Bahri, Ruwaisat al-Alam, al-Samaqa, al-Rahab, al-Marj, and the Zarit and Zibdin barracks.

Last night, the Lebanese News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes raided homes in the towns of Naqoura, Jabal al-Labouneh, Alma al-Shaab, Tayr Harfa and Yarin in the western sector, causing serious damage to property and crops.

The outskirts of the town of Aita al-Shaab were also subjected to direct artillery shelling, according to the same source.

Yesterday, Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that Israeli aircraft launched more than 15 raids on various areas of southern Lebanon, and also targeted the Wadi Saluki area with about 12 raids.

Opinion poll

Meanwhile, a Maariv newspaper poll showed that 71% of Israelis believe that Israel should launch a large-scale military operation against Lebanon.

The poll also showed that half of Israelis oppose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision not to send a security delegation to Cairo to discuss a detainee exchange deal.

Also among the interactions of the Israeli war on the Lebanese front, the former head of Israeli military intelligence, Uri Sagi, said that Israel is unable to wage a simultaneous war on two fronts in Gaza and Lebanon.

In the wake of a devastating war on Gaza, as a result of which Israel was brought before the International Court of Justice for the first time in its history, since October 8, the Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed severe tension and a continuous exchange of bombing between the Israeli army on the one hand, and Hezbollah and Palestinian factions in Lebanon on the other hand. It led to deaths and injuries on both sides.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies + Israeli press