Israel launched airstrikes near Lebanon’s historic eastern city of Baalbek on Monday, security sources and state media said, the second raids in the region since cross-border hostilities began after the Gaza war.
At least one Hezbollah member was killed and several were injured in the attack
Since October 8, the day after the war broke out in the Gaza Strip, Hamas ally Hezbollah and its arch-foe Israel have exchanged near-daily fire.
Strikes have largely remained confined to border regions, but several have hit Hezbollah positions further north in recent weeks, raising fears of a full-blown conflict.
“Israeli aircraft targeted a former Hezbollah building near Dar Al Amal Hospital,” a security source told AFP, adding that Israel “conducted another raid on a warehouse west of Baalbek”.
Another security official confirmed the strikes.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency also reported Israeli airstrikes, adding they “targeted a residential building in the town of Ansar… south of Baalbek”.
“Fire and plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the targeted location,” the NNA added.
The city of Baalbek in the Bekaa valley is a Hezbollah bastion, bordering Syria.
On February 26, Israeli strikes targeted Baalbek, some 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the border, killing two Hezbollah members in the deepest such raid into Lebanese territory since the hostilities began.
Hezbollah has repeatedly said that it will only stop its attacks on Israel with a ceasefire in Gaza.
But Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said recently that any truce in Gaza would not change Israel’s goal of pushing Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon, by force or diplomacy.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October at least 316 people, mainly Hezbollah fighters, and 53 civilians have been killed in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally.
In Israel, at least 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed.
ALARABIYA/AFP
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