Israeli strikes in Lebanon’s Bekaa region killed eight Hezbollah members at a meeting, escalating tensions amid stalled disarmament efforts and US-Iran friction.
ALI AL-NAHRI: An Israeli strike on eastern Lebanon killed eight members of the Hezbollah militant group. A Hezbollah official, speaking anonymously, said the attack hit a meeting the members were attending in the Bekaa region.
The Israeli military stated it targeted “several terrorists of Hezbollah’s missile array” across three command centres in the Baalbek area. Lebanese health authorities reported 10 people killed in the east and two in the south from Friday’s strikes.
The raids targeted residential areas, according to an AFP correspondent on the ground. The correspondent saw a bulldozer clearing debris in Bednayel and a heavily damaged building between Riyak and Ali al-Nahri.
These strikes occurred hours after another Israeli attack on Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp in the south. Israel’s army said it targeted Hamas in that strike, which the health ministry said killed two people.
Hezbollah lawmaker Rami Abu Hamdan called on Beirut to suspend meetings of the multinational ceasefire committee. He said the group “will not accept the authorities acting as mere political analysts, dismissing these as Israeli strikes we have grown accustomed to”.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the attacks as “a blatant act of aggression aimed at thwarting diplomatic efforts”. The strikes come days after Lebanon’s government announced the army would start implementing the second phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah in the south.
Israel has accused Hezbollah of rearming and called Lebanon’s progress on disarmament insufficient. The tensions unfold against a backdrop of brewing friction between the United States and Iran, which backs Hezbollah and Hamas.
Washington is part of a five-member committee overseeing the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, with the body scheduled to meet again next week.