Beirut, July 26 (IANS): Two Hezbollah members were killed on Friday in an Israeli strike on a Lebanese village in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua.

The sources, who spoke anonymously, said that an Israeli warplane fired two air-to-ground missiles targeting the vicinity of the southeast village of Markaba in southern Lebanon, killing two Hezbollah members. The two killed men were Abbas Hussein Hammoud and Fadl Nour al-Din.

They added that a civil defense ambulance transported their bodies to a hospital in the border area, and several houses adjacent to the targeted point were damaged.

Military sources said that Israeli warplanes and drones carried out on Friday four raids on four towns and villages in the eastern sector of the border area, and Israeli artillery shelled nine towns and villages with about 45 shells, causing material damage and the outbreak of several fires that the Civil Defense worked to extinguish.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced in separate statements that air defense units fired anti-aircraft missiles at Israeli warplanes inside Lebanese airspace in the southern region, forcing them to retreat and withdraw behind the Lebanese border with occupied Palestine, Xinhua news agency.

In this context, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon spokesman Andrea Tenenti expressed on Friday concern over the increasing intensity of the conflict across the borderline and the potential risks of a sudden, wider conflict that is difficult to control.

He called on all concerned parties to cease fire and return to the full implementation of Resolution 1701, which is ultimately the path to stability and peace.

He called on Lebanon and Israel to commit to UN Resolution 1701, which remains the most effective framework for addressing the current situation and working towards a long-term settlement of the conflict.