Israeli air strikes on Lebanon are the heaviest in years

Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon on targets linked to the Hezbollah militia struck deeper on Monday than any in recent years, targeting an area close to the Syrian border.

The Israeli military said its fighter jets hit Hezbollah’s air defenses in the Bekaa Valley, about 90 kilometers from the Israeli border. It said the strikes were in response to a surface-to-air missile attack that downed an Israeli drone over southern Lebanon. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for that attack.

At least two Hezbollah fighters were killed and at least six other people were injured in the Israeli airstrikes, according to Bachir Khodor, mayor of the nearby city of Baalbek. Video from the scene, provided by Mr Khodor, which could not be independently verified, showed a building in ruins and people on stretchers being loaded into an ambulance.

The Bekaa Valley, a fertile plain running along the Syrian border, has long been a stronghold for Hezbollah, the politically powerful Lebanese militia that has clashed with Israeli forces almost daily since the war. Hamas-led attacks in Israel on October 7. The fighting has displaced more than 150,000 people on both sides of the Lebanese-Israeli border and left hundreds dead.

Monday’s airstrikes marked the first time the Israeli army had hit the Bekaa Valley during the current conflict. The attacks have recently spread deeper within Lebanon. Last week, the Israeli military said it had struck so-called Hezbollah weapons storage facilities near the Lebanese coastal city of Sidon, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the border with Israel.

At a meeting with military officials on Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said his country “intended to increase firepower against Hezbollah,” adding that it would not pause operations along the border with Lebanon even if there would be a temporary attack. cessation of fighting in Gaza.

“We will increase the fire in the north separately and continue until the complete withdrawal of Hezbollah and the return of Israeli civilians to their homes,” he said.

Hassan Fadlallah, a Hezbollah lawmaker in the Lebanese parliament, said Monday that the latest round of Israeli attacks “would not go without a response.”

Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting from Tel Aviv.