Beirut, Oct 19 (IANS): Two people were killed on Saturday in an Israeli airstrike on Jounieh, the first time that the Israeli force targeted the Lebanese coastal city 16 km north of the capital Beirut, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported.

An Israeli drone targeted a vehicle carrying two people on the Jounieh highway in the Keserwan district of Mount Lebanon governorate, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the al-Jadeed local TV channel.

The drone missed the target in its first strike, prompting the passengers, a man and a woman, to leave it and flee towards a nearby forest, but the drone pursued them and resumed the raid, the local channel said, noting that their bodies have been transferred to a local hospital.

So far, no information was available about the identities of the two victims, it added.

Since September 23, the Israeli army has been launching an unprecedented, intensive air attack on Lebanon in an escalation with Hezbollah.

Since October 8, 2023, Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been exchanging fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border amid fears of a broader conflict as the war between Hamas and Israel continues in the Gaza Strip.