Lebanese Red Cross rescue workers in front of an impact on the Beirut-Bekaa highway at Araya, after a targeted strike that killed one person, Oct. 30, 2024. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient-Le Jour)
The Israeli army carried out several unprecedented drone strikes on Wednesday, notably on vehicles in Araya, on the highway linking the Bekaa Valley to Beirut, in Bchamoun, and in Qmatieh, in Mount Lebanon. The strikes on Araya and Bshamoun were nearly simultaneous. The first one hit a vehicle driving on the main highway, the latter hit a car on a road branching off from the highway.
After the strike in Araya, the municipality president, Pierre Bejjani, told L'Orient Today that there was at least one casualty and that the struck truck “contained a large quantity of weapons and ammunition.” He added that a fire had broken out in the bushes near the targeted area and was now approaching houses. A Lebanese security source also confirmed to AFP that the truck hit in Araya was loaded with munitions and that its driver was killed.
A few hours later, another Israeli strike targeted a vehicle at an intersection in the village of Qmatieh, on the road to Aley, not far from where the van in Araya had been struck earlier. No information on the identity or fate of the person(s) targeted was available. Qmatieh was first targeted by Israeli aircraft on Oct. 7, 2023, in a strike that killed several people.
Traffic was halted in both directions on the Kahaleh Highway, a major roadway. A few hours later, the army detonated munitions that remained at the scene, according to our journalist on the ground. A thick cloud of smoke rose over the area.
On Monday, a drone strike had targeted roughly the same location without causing casualties.
In Bshamoun, the drone fired on a vehicle near the al-Tabch mosque, according to the national agency, which noted that the driver survived the strike. Our correspondent reported that the car in Bshamoun was not hit.
This is the first time this locality in Mount Lebanon has been targeted since the start of the conflict.
