At least ten people have been killed and dozens more wounded after Israeli forces carried out a series of airstrikes across areas of Lebanon late on Friday, in one of the deadliest escalations along the border in recent months. Lebanon’s Health Ministry confirmed the death toll and said the strikes caused extensive destruction in the eastern Bekaa Valley, where emergency services have been searching through rubble and treating injured civilians, including children.
Lebanese security sources and statements from the Hezbollah movement reported that eight of those killed were members of Hezbollah, including senior fighters and commanders. Among the fatalities were also foreign nationals, including a Syrian man and an Ethiopian woman. Dozens of others were hurt in the bombardment, with hospitals in nearby towns overwhelmed with casualties.
The Israeli military said it targeted what it described as “Hezbollah command centres and militant infrastructure” in the Bekaa and Baalbek regions. The army said the operations were in response to ongoing threats and attacks emanating from southern and eastern Lebanon. In a separate strike earlier in the day, Israeli jets hit a building in the Ain al‑Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon, which Israel claimed was a Hamas command centre. Hamas rejected that characterization, saying the building housed local security offices rather than armed militants.
Hezbollah’s media office confirmed the death of senior member Hussein Mohammad Yaghi in the strikes and announced plans for funeral arrangements. Lebanese officials, including President Joseph Aoun, condemned the Israeli actions as violations of Lebanese sovereignty and international law, calling on global powers to intervene to prevent further violence. The strikes have once again inflamed tensions along the Israel‑Lebanon frontier, undermining a fragile ceasefire that was brokered in 2024 after months of fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.
Regional analysts warn that the latest clashes could trigger wider instability, as both sides exchange accusations of ceasefire violations and as tensions remain high in neighbouring conflict zones. Diplomats in Beirut and elsewhere called for calm and urged all parties to exercise restraint to avoid a larger confrontation that could draw in other actors in the Middle East.
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