BEIRUT – Israeli fighter jets struck a number of Hezbollah positions close to Lebanon’s northeastern city of Baalbek on Monday, within the heaviest assaults on Lebanese territory since cross-border hostilities started in October and the primary time Israel has hit Baalbek because the 2006 conflict.
Monday’s strikes mark a critical escalation in preventing. They’re the primary to be hit within the Bekaa area, a key Hezbollah stronghold because the two sides fought a lethal conflict in July 2006.
In keeping with native studies, there have been at the least three airstrikes between the cities of Tal Safiya and Aadous.
Lebanese safety officers instructed the Related Press that an assault hit a truck convoy within the village of Buday, a Hezbollah stronghold, though Hezbollah had not formally introduced the demise of any of its fighters on Monday.
A Hezbollah official quoted by AP mentioned one other assault focused a warehouse belonging to a Hezbollah cooperative that sells items and meals at low costs to registered Hezbollah supporters. The official added that at the least two individuals have been killed within the strikes.
The Israeli enemy focused an space #Baalbek A harmful growth by way of increasing the hearth circle to this geographic extent. Due to this fact, the enemy considers this assault as a response to the operations in Safad and Tiberias, or provokes the resistance to reply in some of the necessary cities, as like Haifa, for instance, the nation is getting into the section of negotiation on the idea of equality . pic.twitter.com/GzMK74aQsO
– Advisor Qasim Hadraj (@almostshar202) February 26, 2024
The Israeli navy later confirmed the assault, saying its fighter jets hit air protection methods utilized by Hezbollah within the Beqaa Valley. In an announcement on
The closely armed group mentioned in an announcement earlier on Monday that its air protection items shot down an Israeli Hermes 450 drone within the Iqlim al-Tuffah area.
Hezbollah official and lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah mentioned the assaults in Baalbek is not going to go “unanswered.”
Talking at a funeral procession for a Hezbollah fighter killed in a separate current incident on Monday, Fadlallah condemned Israeli “aggression” and vowed that Hezbollah “will reply appropriately.”
“This Zionist assault is not going to trigger us to withdraw; moderately, it would improve our resolve,” he added.
Israel, for its half, has vowed to step up its assaults on Hezbollah even when a ceasefire is reached within the Gaza Strip.
“Within the occasion of a brief ceasefire in Gaza, we’ll improve hearth within the north and proceed till Hezbollah’s full withdrawal” from the border, Israeli Protection Minister Yoav Gallant mentioned throughout a Sunday go to to the Northern Command headquarters in Gaza. Secure.
“The purpose is straightforward: carry Hezbollah again to the place it must be. Both by settlement or by pressure,” he added.
Israel has pushed deeper into Lebanese territory in current weeks, elevating fears of a wider battle within the small Mediterranean nation.
Final week, the Israeli military mentioned it had struck Hezbollah weapons depots close to the southern metropolis of Sidon, which is nearly 30 kilometers from the border with Israel.
In January, an obvious Israeli assault within the coronary heart of Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled Dahiyeh district killed senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri.
Hezbollah started firing rockets and drones into northern Israel a day after Hamas launched its shock cross-border assault on southern Israel on October 7. The Iranian-backed group mentioned it was appearing in solidarity with the Palestinian individuals within the Gaza Strip.
The cross-border hostilities have since killed at the least 280 individuals in Lebanon, of whom at the least 210 have been Hezbollah members and 44 civilians, in line with an Agence France-Presse rely, whereas dozens of others belonged to different militant teams. In keeping with the Israeli military, the demise toll in Israel has risen to 10 troopers and 6 civilians.
