According to officials, Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed at least ten people.

Despite a ceasefire, Lebanese sources report that Israeli airstrikes on eastern Lebanon have killed at least ten people.  According to Israel’s military, it targeted locations in the Bekaa Valley, where Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim paramilitary and political party, is well-established.
At least six Hezbollah members, including a senior field commander, were reported dead. 

Since the war between Israel and Hezbollah ended in November 2024 with a truce, these strikes rank among the bloodiest to hit Lebanon.  Israel has continued its nearly daily strikes on Lebanon in spite of the agreement, which came after 13 months of fighting. Images posted online from one of the locations hit on Friday night showed heavy damage in what appeared to be a residential neighbourhood.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it had struck “Hezbollah command centres” and that Hezbollah “systematically embeds its assets within the civilian population”. It said the group’s activities were “a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon”.

According to Hezbollah, which is regarded as a terrorist organization by the US and the UK, the ceasefire agreement only covers southern Lebanon, which is the region between the Litani River and the Blue Line, which is the unofficial border between Israel and Lebanon.  As part of a campaign to disarm Hezbollah following its deadly 13-month war with Israel, the Lebanese army has demolished the group’s infrastructure there.

However, the group has so far turned down requests from Lebanese authorities to talk about the future of its weaponry in other parts of the nation, such as the Bekaa Valley, where it is thought that some of its stockpile is located.

Hezbollah rejected the government’s decision last week to move forward with the second phase of the disarmament plan in the port city of Sidon, which is located between the Awali River and the Litani River to the north. The government of Lebanon called on the international community to exert pressure on Israel to halt its strikes, claiming that Israel’s current actions were a breach of the ceasefire agreement. 

Nawaf Salam, the prime minister of Lebanon, recently declared that the conflict has devolved into a “one-sided war of attrition.”  An Israeli strike struck the heavily populated Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Helweh, on the outskirts of Sidon, in the south of the country, just hours before the attacks in the east.

The Israeli military claimed to have killed two Hamas militants after striking a “command center” that the group had been using.  The strikes coincide with increased regional tensions, as the US has threatened to strike Iran if talks between the two nations don’t result in an agreement. Lebanon is worried that if Israel gets involved in an attack, Iran would pressure Hezbollah to join its defense.