At least 10 killed, 30 wounded by Israeli strikes on Bekaa Valley
Israeli strikes on the country's east and south killed at least twelve people on Friday, with Israel's army saying it targeted militant group Hezbollah and its Palestinian ally Hamas.
A Hezbollah source told AFP that a military leader from the Iran-backed group was among the dead in the strikes in the eastern Bekaa Valley.
Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, usually saying it is targeting the group but occasionally also Hamas militants.
Israeli strikes in the Bekaa "led to an initial toll of ten dead and more than 30 wounded, distributed across the region's hospitals", the National News Agency said.
The agency had earlier reported "heavy strikes" in several locations in the region, including a raid on a building in Riyak.
Israel's army said it hit "Hezbollah command centers" used to advance "terror attacks against IDF troops and Israel", in the Baalbek area in Lebanon.
It claimed that within the command centers, weapons and funds utilized by Hezbollah were being stored, "constituting a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon."
The raids came hours after an Israeli strike on the country's largest Palestinian refugee camp killed two people, according to the health ministry, with Israel's army saying it had targeted Hamas.
In October 2023, Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israel in support of Hamas and the Palestinians at the outset of the Gaza war, triggering hostilities that culminated in two months of all-out war between Israel and the Iran-backed group.
Lebanon's government last year committed to disarming Hezbollah and the army said last month that it had completed the first phase of the plan, covering the area near the Israeli border.
Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming, has criticized the army's progress as insufficient.
Source: Agence France Presse
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