Hezbollah reports at least two deaths in an attack near Baalbek, its stronghold about a hundred kilometers from the border with Israel.
Lebanese security officials say Israel targeted eastern Lebanon for the first time since the war on Gaza began in October last year.
At least two people were killed Monday after Israeli military jets carried out three airstrikes on the outskirts of the village of Bouday, near Baalbek, a Hezbollah stronghold in the Bekaa Valley, about 100 km from the Israeli border. -Lebanese.
The attacks targeted a convoy of trucks, with the Israeli army saying they had struck “Hezbollah terrorist targets deep in Lebanon”.
Confirming the strikes, the Israeli army said its planes had targeted sites used by Hezbollah for its air defense system, adding that they had intervened “in response to the launch of a surface-to-air missile” which downed an Israeli drone earlier Monday in southern Lebanon. , where most Israeli attacks have taken place so far.
Hezbollah official told Reuters news agency about Israeli strikes hit a warehouse, killing two people. The warehouse is part of Hezbollah’s Sajjad project which sells food products to residents of its stronghold at below-market prices.
A video published by Lebanese media shows a plume of smoke rising from the surroundings of the Aadous plain in Bouday, west of the town of Baalbek.
مشاهد إضافية للآثار الغارة الإسرائيلية على بعلبك pic.twitter.com/EdGUCrPxof
– bintjbeil.org (@bintjbeilnews) February 26, 2024
Two separate videos showed a destroyed area with a burned and overturned truck and a damaged SUV lying next to a road, as well as a huge pile of rubble from what appears to be a building.
The airstrikes came hours after Hezbollah said its fighters shot down an Israeli drone over its stronghold in a southern Lebanese province. Another missile fired by Hezbollah towards the drone was intercepted by Israel and landed near a synagogue in a town near Nazareth in northern Israel. There were no injuries or damage.
The attack on Baalbek, due to its location deep in Lebanon, is the largest since that in early January in Beirut which killed senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri.
Hezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged fire almost daily along the border since the Gaza war began on October 7, killing at least 47 civilians.
The Iran-backed Shiite group, which has close ties to Hamas, says it will stop its attacks on Israel after a ceasefire is reached in Gaza. But Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Sunday that anyone who thinks a temporary truce for Gaza will also apply to its northern front is “mistaken.”
Israel has killed nearly 30,000 Palestinians and displaced 80 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack in southern Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,100 people and capturing around 240.