An Israeli Air Force fighter jet flying over the border area with southern Lebanon on March 10, 2024. (Credit: Illustrative photo Jalaa Marey/AFP)
Israel conducted an air raid
on Baalbeck, Hezbollah's stronghold in eastern Lebanon on
Saturday, two security sources in Lebanon told Reuters.
Hezbollah said in statement on Sunday that in response to the "bombing of a place in the city of Baalbeck" it targeted an Israeli missile and artillery base in Yoav and the Kaila barracks with more than 60 Katyusha rockets.
Three people were wounded by the strikes, an AFP correspondent reported.
"Earlier this night, IDF [Israeli army] fighter jets struck a production site containing weapons in the Baalbeck area," the Israeli army said.
According to the AFP correspondent, "the Israeli air force fired five missiles at a two-storey residential building in al-Osseira, on the outskirts of Baalbeck." He added that the strikes targeted a Hezbollah center that had been deserted for some time, injuring three residents of neighboring buildings. The governor of the region, Bashir Khodr, also reported on the X social network that three people had been injured.
"In retaliation for the bombardment" in Baalbeck, Hezbollah said that almost an hour later it fired "more than 60 Katyusha rockets" at two Israeli military positions in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan. The party said it had targeted a base and barracks that served as "the headquarters of the air defense command, where members of the Golani brigade were training after returning from the Gaza Strip." The Israeli army reported that it had spotted "around 50 launches" from Lebanon "towards northern Israel," explaining that it had intercepted several of them and had struck several of the launchers involved with its aircraft. Israel reported no casualties or damage.
For several weeks now, Israel has been launching air raids deep into Lebanese territory against positions held by the powerful Hezbollah, heightening the threat of open war. This is the third time in more than five months of fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli army that the Baalbeck region has been targeted. This strike, some one hundred kilometers from the Israeli-Lebanese border, comes after 10 days of relative calm between the two belligerents.
on Baalbeck, Hezbollah's stronghold in eastern Lebanon on
Saturday, two security sources in Lebanon told Reuters.
Hezbollah said in statement on Sunday that in response to
the "bombing of a place in the city of Baalbeck" it targeted an
Israeli missile and artillery base in Yoav and the Kaila
barracks with more than 60 Katyusha...