Israeli strikes in Lebanon kill 16, militant rockets kill 1 Israeli as cross-border violence soars WHIO TV 7 and WHIO Radio [Video]

HEBBARIYE, Lebanon — (AP) — A series of Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed 16 people and a barrage of rockets fired by the militant group Hezbollah killed one Israeli man, making Wednesday the deadliest day in more than five months of fighting along the border.

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, concerns have grown about further escalation along the Israel-Lebanon frontier. Tens of thousands of people on both sides have been displaced by the violence.

Wednesday’s Israeli strikes targeted a Lebanese Sunni political and militant organization, the Islamic Group, which has joined the Shiite militant group Hezbollah in its fight against Israel. Two Hezbollah fighters were also killed, as was a local commander with the Amal Movement, another Shiite group.

The first Israeli airstrike hit a paramedic center affiliated with the Islamic Group, killing seven of its members in the village of Hebbariye after midnight.

Muheddine Qarhani, head of the Emergency and Relief Corps, told reporters at the scene …