A second report from the Ministry of Health stated that four additional people were injured in the Nabi Sheet strike, bringing the total to eight. The injured include six Lebanese citizens, a five-year-old Syrian girl, and a fifteen-year-old Syrian girl, according to a provisional report.
In South Lebanon:
According to the al-Rissala Rescue Association, the Israeli strike on Taybeh resulted in injuries, and the wounded were transported to nearby hospitals.
However, the strike between Mansouri and Bouyout al-Siyyad did not cause any injuries.
The view of the strike on Mansouri from Sour's beach. Photo courtesy of Muntasser Abdallah.
The Israeli Air Force struck the outskirts of the localities of Mansouri and Bouyout al-Siyyad in the Sour district, according to our correspondent in South Lebanon. Ambulances have headed to the scene.
According to our correspondent in the Bekaa, paramedics assisted a total of four lightly injured individuals — two Syrian workers and two Lebanese civilians — during the three Israeli strikes that targeted points in the area west of Nabi Sheet, in the Baalbeck district.
They were transported to Rayak Hospital for treatment.
In South Lebanon, an Israeli strike targeted the locality of Taybeh (Marjayoun district) about an hour ago.
Hezbollah also released a new statement announcing an attack on "buildings used by enemy soldiers in the Shomera settlement," across from Ramieh in the Bint Jbeil district. The party claims to have used rockets and hit the target "directly."
According to two security sources contacted by Reuters, one of the three Israeli strikes that targeted the west of Nabi Sheet (Baalbeck district) in the Bekaa Valley hit a Hezbollah weapons depot.
Our correspondent reports that drones are currently flying at low altitudes over this part of the Bekaa, and ambulances are heading to the strike sites.
⚡ According to security sources contacted by our correspondent in the Bekaa Valley, three Israeli drone strikes targeted an area west of Nabi Sheet (Baalbeck district).
The first strike hit the plains of Qsarnaba and Tamnin al-Tahta, the second targeted the plain between Nabi Sheet and Sefri, and the third struck a warehouse in the area between Sefri and Sarain.
⚡ According to our correspondent, a strike, likely Israeli, occurred in the Bekaa Valley between the towns of Nabi Sheet and Sarain (Baalbeck district), between Baalbeck and Zahle.
At least one strike was reported by witnesses in Nabi Sheet and security sources and was heard throughout the Bekaa Valley.
An Israeli drone targeted a vehicle on the Deir Kanoun Ras el-Ain road (Sour district), killing one person, according to security sources cited by our correspondent in South Lebanon.
The Israeli army held an "operational day to prepare the northern front of the country," at the border with Lebanon, in anticipation of a possible escalation, according to information shared by the Israeli army's Arabic-speaking spokesperson Avichay Adraee on X. The meeting included several high-ranking military officials.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an attack carried out at 5:15 p.m. against the Israeli barracks in Zebdine, located in the disputed Shebaa Farms.
The Public Health Emergency Operations Center of the Ministry of Public Health said in a statement that a citizen was admitted to Marjayoun Governmental Hospital after suffering complications that resulted from inhaling phosphorus gas from Israeli bombs in Khiam (Marjayoun district) four days ago.
- Heavy-caliber Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of Qabrikha and Wadi Saluki (Marjayoun district).
- Israeli warplanes flew intensely at low and medium levels over South Lebanon, reaching the villages of the Zahrani coast. They also dropped thermal balloons over some areas, our correspondent reported.
The armed wings of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility in a joint statement for "Sunday night's suicide attack in Tel Aviv," threatening to carry out more attacks in Israel.
The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, which has been at war with Israel in Gaza for over 10 months, and the Al-Quds Brigades, the military arm of Islamic Jihad, stated that "suicide attacks inside the occupied territory (Israel) will return to the forefront as long as the massacres by the occupier (Israel) continue, along with the forced transfer of civilians and the assassination policy."
Update on the situation in South Lebanon:
- Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an attack at 3:50 p.m. on the Israeli Ramim barracks, opposite the Lebanese village of Markaba (Marjayoun district).
- Israeli artillery struck the outskirts of Tallousa and Markaba (Marjayoun), according to residents cited by our correspondent.
On the instructions of Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, Lebanon's permanent mission to the U.N. in New York filed a complaint with the Security Council regarding the Israeli air force's maneuvers that regularly break the sound barrier over Lebanon. In this complaint, Lebanon claims that this is a violation of Security Council Resolution 1701.
Israeli Warrant Officer Mahmoud Amaria, 45, from the Bedouin village of Ibtin in northern Israel, was killed by a drone strike in the Western Galilee launched by Hezbollah, the Israeli military said. Amaria served as a tracker in the Otzvat Baram Brigade, which is stationed on the border with Lebanon.
Another officer was seriously injured in the same incident. Three soldiers were poisoned by smoke inhalation.
The Israeli army did not specify where Amaria was killed, but it was in the Western Galilee that the Ya'ara barracks were located, which Hezbollah targeted this morning in a drone attack that, according to the party, caused casualties.
An update on the situation in southern Lebanon:
- Israeli fighter jets broke the sound barrier twice over Lebanon. The sounds were heard in the south, Bekaa and Beirut.
- Israeli jets bombed Tayr Harfa (Sour). Ambulances rushed to the scene, although it was not immediately clear whether the strike caused any casualties.
- Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a strike "with a Burkan missile" on the Israeli site of "Bayad Blida," opposite Blida (Marjayoun).
The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip announced a new death toll of 40,139 in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war with Israel, now in its eleventh month.
At least 40 people have been killed in the past 24 hours, the ministry said in a statement, adding that 92,743 people have been injured in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7.
The NGO Human Rights Watch considered that the Israeli airstrike in July against a port in Yemen held by the Houthi rebels, as well as a drone attack by the latter in Tel Aviv, could constitute possible "war crimes."
On July 20, Israel bombed the strategic port of Hodeida, the main entry point for goods and humanitarian aid to areas under the control of Yemeni rebels.
Europe's largest airline, Lufthansa, announced that it is extending the suspension of its flights to the Middle East until Aug. 26 inclusive, in the face of the risk of a worsening of the conflict in the region.
In a statement, the German group said the measure concerns flights to the airports of Tel Aviv, Tehran, Beirut, Amman and Erbil as well as flights through Iranian and Iraqi airspace. Initially, the suspension was to run until Aug. 21.
The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for "Sunday evening's suicide attack in Tel Aviv" in a joint statement, threatening to carry out further attacks in Israel.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, which has been at war with Israel in Gaza for more than ten months, and the al-Quds Brigades, their counterpart in Islamic Jihad, say that "suicide attacks inside the occupied (Israel) will return to the forefront as long as the massacres of the (Israeli) occupier, the operations of forced transfer of civilians and the policy of assassinations last."
Hezbollah announced the death of two of its members, Abbas Melhem, born in 1990 and originally from Majdal Selm and Mohammad Hassan, born in 2005 and originally from Ghandourieh. These two men were killed "on the road to Jerusalem," according to the formula used by the party to announce the death of its members in Israeli strikes since Oct. 8. According to information from L'Orient Today's correspondent, these are the two victims of the strike on Houla.
Update on the situation in southern Lebanon:
- Shortly after 10:30 a.m., Israeli artillery fired on the outskirts of Kfar Kila, Adaisseh (Marjayoun) and Kfar Chouba (Hasbaya).
- An Israeli drone flew over Baalbeck, in the Bekaa, at low altitude, according to L'Orient Today's local correspondent.
The Ministry of Health announced that the night strike on Houla killed two people. No information was available so far on the identity of the two victims.
An update on the situation in southern Lebanon last night:
- At 11:00 p.m., the operations chamber of the al-Rissala al-Islamiya scouts' civil defense announced that it had participated in the fight against a fire caused by a strike in the village of Houla (Marjayoun)
- At the same time, Israeli jets and drones were flying over the different regions of south Lebanon and as far as the Zahrani area, at low and medium altitudes.
- At 7 a.m., an Israeli bombardment targeted the villages of Aita al-Shaab, Hanine, Ramieh and Beit Lif (Bint Jbeil)
- At 8 a.m., Israeli aircraft and drones were flying over the western sector of south Lebanon
- At midnight, Hezbollah rockets reached the Israeli position of al-Raheb, opposite Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil) according to a statement from the party.
- At 2:00 a.m., Hezbollah claimed that its fighters repelled, with artillery fire, an infiltration of Israeli soldiers in the Hadab Aita woods, near Aita al-Shaab. The party assured that there were losses on the Israeli side and that the soldiers were forced to withdraw.
- At 8 a.m., Hezbollah announced that it had targeted an Israeli barracks in Zariit, opposite Marwahin (Sour) where there was a gathering of soldiers, specifying that it had destroyed part of it and caused a fire inside.
- At around 9 a.m., Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an airstrike using explosive drones against the Ya'ara barracks and the "Saint Jean" command center, located north of Acre. The strike caused "a number of deaths and injuries." According to information provided by the party, this barracks is located about 16.5 kilometers from the border and contains a logistics base for the command of the northern region of the Israeli army. It was targeted for the first time since October, "in response to the assassination" in the Qadmous region, north of Sour, of a Hezbollah member described by the Israeli army as a commander of the Radwan Force.
The United States submitted a new compromise proposal during talks in Doha on Friday.
Hamas rejected the proposal, saying it "meets the conditions set by Netanyahu, in particular his refusal of a permanent cease-fire and a total withdrawal from the Gaza Strip." The movement, which did not participate in the negotiations in Qatar, denounced in particular Israel's "insistence" on maintaining troops on the Gaza border with Egypt and "new conditions on the issue" of Palestinian prisoners likely to be exchanged for hostages held in Gaza.
The Palestinian movement is demanding the implementation of the plan announced at the end of May by Biden and is calling on mediators to "force the occupation (Israel) to implement what has been agreed." This plan provides, in the first phase, a six-week truce accompanied by an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas of Gaza and the release of hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7, and in its second phase, in particular a total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
In a meeting this morning with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Blinken warned that this was “perhaps the last” chance to reach a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “This is a defining moment, this is probably the best, perhaps the last opportunity to bring the hostages home, to get a ceasefire and to put everyone on a path to lasting peace and security,” Blinken said.
Blinken added that it was "time to get there." "It's also time to make sure that nobody does anything that could derail the process," he added. "We're working to make sure that there's no escalation or provocations or any action that could in any way take us away from this agreement or expand the conflict to other places or increase its intensity," Blinken continued.
Herzog, whose role is mainly ceremonial, affirmed that the Israelis wanted the return "as soon as possible" of the hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7 by Hamas commandos and held since in the Gaza Strip. "There is no greater humanitarian cause than the return of our hostages," he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to meet with top Israeli leaders later today to try to unblock the process towards a cease-fire in Gaza, which Israel and Hamas accuse each other of derailing.
Having arrived in Israel yesterday, the head of American diplomacy is due to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Blinken, who is on his ninth visit to the Middle East since Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on Oct. 7, will then travel to Cairo on Tuesday, where mediators are due to resume talks this week. He hopes to convince "all parties" to drive a deal "over the finish line," a U.S. official accompanying him said after his arrival in Tel Aviv.
Washington is hoping to end more than a decade of devastating conflict that has tarnished the record of outgoing President Joe Biden and that Iran and its allies threaten to turn into a regional conflagration.
Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for "directing pressure on Hamas" and "not on the Israeli government," denouncing a "stubborn refusal" by the Palestinian movement to reach an agreement, after two days of negotiations in Doha between the Israeli side and the American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
"We hold Benjamin Netanyahu fully responsible for thwarting the efforts of the mediators and obstructing an agreement," with disregard for the "lives of the hostages" held since Oct. 7, Hamas retorted in a statement.
U.S. President Joe Biden said last night that a truce in Gaza was "still possible" and assured that the United States "was not abandoning" its efforts.
Be sure to read the Morning Brief so you are caught up with what has been happening.
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