The Israeli army carried out at least two strikes on Hezbollah targets near the Lebanese city of Baalbeck on Monday. This is the first strike on Lebanon’s east after almost five months of cross-border clashes since October 8, the day after the start of the war in Gaza. According to preliminary reports, two people were killed.
The Israeli Army Strikes #Baalbeck for the First Time Since 2006 pic.twitter.com/XRiKBkPS4V
— This is Beirut (@ThisIsBeirut_) February 26, 2024
“An Israeli strike hit a building housing a Hezbollah civilian institution” in a Baalbeck suburb, a security source told AFP, while a second Israeli strike hit a warehouse near Baalbeck belonging to the Iran-backed group, according to the same source.
The Israeli army stated that it is “currently striking Hezbollah terror targets deep inside Lebanon.”
Monday’s strikes marked the first attack on Hezbollah outside the South of Lebanon since the start of hostilities in the wake of the October 7 Gaza war, and the first attack on Baalbeck since 2006.
According to Israeli media, these strikes came in response to Hezbollah having shot down an Israeli drone with an air-to-ground missile.
Hezbollah also announced that it carried out an operation, on Monday at dawn, against an Israeli force at the Baghdadis site and its surroundings.
Later in the morning, Israeli airstrikes were recorded in the Tufah region, targeting the area between Jarmaq and Jabal Rafi. On the other hand, Israeli media reported the fall of two anti-tank missiles in Shtula in the Upper Galilee.
