AN ISRAELI drone destroyed a car north of the Lebanese port city of Sidon on Saturday, killing at least two people and wounding two more.

The strike took place near the coastal town of Jadra, about 37 miles from the Israeli border, making it one of the farthest inside Lebanon since violence erupted along the Lebanon-Israel border on October 8, the day after Hamas’s bloody attack on southern Israel.

An Israeli security official said that the target of the attack was Hamas official Basel Saleh, who was “injured to an unknown extent.”

The official claimed that Mr Saleh was responsible for recruitment in Gaza and the West Bank.

Lebanese security officials said the strike had damaged a car and killed two people, including one on a motorcycle.

Drone strikes blamed on Israel have killed several officials of Lebanese Shi’ite resistance movement Hezbollah as well as Hamas.

On Saturday night, Israeli forces shelled the southern Lebanese border village of Houla, killing one person and wounding nine as they left a mosque after prayers, the state-run National News Agency reported.

In addition to the artillery shelling, a drone had fired a missile toward the mosque and children were among the wounded, according to the agency.

The attacks came as Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian met Lebanese leaders in Beirut including the caretaker prime minister, parliamentary speaker and the head of Hezbollah.

Mr Amirabdollahian said that if the United States wanted to restore regional stability, it should press Israel to end its war in the Gaza Strip.

He blasted Washington for sending weapons to Israel “and participating in the genocide” while speaking about reaching a political solution to the conflict.