At least 10 killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley, health ministry says | Lebanon
The Lebanese health ministry said that at least 10 people died and 24 people, including 3 children, were injured in Israel’s attacks on Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa valley.
Israel said it hit the “command centers” of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in the Bekaa valley. Senior Hezbollah leader Hussein Yaghi was killed in the attacks, two security sources told Reuters.
Yaghi is the son of former Hezbollah MP Mohammed Yaghi and his funeral will be held on Saturday, according to Hezbollah media.
Local television footage from the scene of one of the attacks showed the targeted area appeared to be an apartment building. Emergency crews were seen responding to the fire and searching for survivors.
Early Friday, another Israeli attack on a Palestinian refugee camp in the port city of Sidon killed two people.
The Israeli army said it hit a “Hamas command center” in the Ain al-Hilweh camp. Hamas acknowledged that two of its members were killed in the attack, but said the claim that it was a command center was a “flimsy excuse”.
It was stated that the targeted building belonged to the joint security force consisting of various Palestinian groups responsible for ensuring the security of the camp.
After October 7, 2023, Hezbollah began firing rockets from Lebanon to Israel in support of Hamas and the Palestinians.
Israel responded with air strikes and artillery fire. The low-level conflict escalated into a full-scale war in September 2024 and was reined in by a US-brokered ceasefire two months later.
Since then, Israel has accused Hezbollah of trying to rebuild it and has launched almost daily attacks on Lebanon, which it says target militants and facilities. Hezbollah has launched an offensive against Israel since the ceasefire.
The death toll from Friday’s attacks was unusually high and tensions in the region have risen as the United States threatens to strike Iran, a backer of both Hezbollah and Hamas, if negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program fail to reach an agreement.
Hezbollah remained on the sidelines during last year’s Israel-Iran war, but many in Lebanon fear the country will retreat if another war breaks out.
