Israeli strikes kill 26 across Lebanon as Hezbollah clashes intensify
At least 26 people were killed and 33 injured in Israeli airstrikes across southern and eastern Lebanon Sunday, Lebanese authorities reported. The strikes hit multiple towns, a Palestinian refugee camp and workers at a poultry farm, as cross-border clashes with Hezbollah continue to expand.
At least 26 people were killed and 33 injured in a series of Israeli airstrikes Sunday across southern and eastern Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities, as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah intensifies amid broader regional escalation. Lebanon's Emergency Operations Center at the Health Ministry reported that 19 people were killed and 16 injured in three separate strikes in southern Lebanon.
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Southern Lebanon strikes
One strike targeted the town of Sir al-Gharbiya in Nabatieh District, killing 10 people and injuring six others. Another strike hit the Al-Athar neighborhood in the city of Tyre, leaving eight people dead, while a third strike targeted the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in the southern city of Sidon, killing one Palestinian and injuring 10 others, including three Lebanese nationals. Separately, six members of the same family were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house and a car repair shop in the town of Douair, also in Nabatieh District, Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) reported.
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Workers targeted
NNA also reported that an Israeli airstrike targeted around 15 workers, most of them Syrian nationals, unloading a truck carrying poultry at a farm in the town of Yahmar al-Shaqif in southern Lebanon. Ambulance crews were unable to reach the area due to the dangerous security situation, the agency said, without giving a casualty toll. In the same district, one person was slightly injured after an airstrike hit a house in the town of Sarba. In eastern Lebanon, an Israeli airstrike targeted an excavator in the village of Brital in Baalbek District, killing one person and injuring a Syrian national.
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Hezbollah clashes
The strikes came as Hezbollah fighters clashed with Israeli forces after they landed by helicopter near the outskirts of Nabi Sheet village in Bekaa governorate, according to NNA. The agency said the Israeli unit infiltrated the area from the Syrian side and landed on the heights of the eastern mountain range along the Lebanese-Syrian border. Hezbollah's Al-Manar television reported that the group's fighters hit an Israeli military helicopter with gunfire during the clashes. Earlier Sunday, Hezbollah said it carried out seven attacks using rockets and drones targeting Israeli military sites, bases and troop gatherings while also repelling two attempted advances by Israeli forces.
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Regional context
Israel expanded its military campaign in Lebanon last Monday following limited rocket fire by Hezbollah amid broader regional tensions linked to the US-Israeli war against Iran. Regional escalation has intensified since Feb. 28, when the US and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran that has killed more than 1,200 people, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel and Gulf countries hosting US military assets. The Lebanon-Israel clashes have killed nearly 400 people, injured more than 1,100 and displaced thousands since Monday, according to Lebanese figures.
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