A car in flames after an Israeli strike on the Ghazieh highway, near Saida in southern Lebanon, on April 18, 2025. (Photo obtained by L'Orient Today's correspondent in the South)
BEIRUT — The Israeli air force killed one person in a drone strike on a car near the coastal city of Saida, in southern Lebanon, on Friday morning, according to an update from the Health Ministry. “The raid by the Israeli enemy on a car on the Saida-Ghazieh road resulted in one death,” the statement reads.
The Israeli army regularly attacks Lebanon despite the cease-fire that it reached with Hezbollah on Nov. 27 to bring an end to two months of open war between the two, during which Israel killed more than 4,000 people across southern and eastern Lebanon in a far reaching bombing campaign.
Since the truce came into effect, Israel has killed more than 135 people, claiming to target fighters and infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah, though the U.N. says an initial review of the victims has revealed that at least 71 of them were civilians.
After the Friday morning strike, the targeted SUV caught fire, causing a cloud of black smoke in the sky, according to an AFP journalist on site. The Lebanese Army cordoned off the area and firefighters intervened to control the flames.
The strike was not immediately claimed, but the Israeli army indicated it had killed several Hezbollah fighters, including “commanders,” this week in the South of the country.
Israeli strikes throughout the night
On Thursday evening, two Israeli strikes hit Aita al-Shaab, in Bint Jbeil district, a few kilometers from the border. The first missile, launched from a helicopter, hit a gas station in the center of the village, which was not the first time this station had been targeted, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent. A second strike targeted a shed, which had also alraedy been bombed.
After midnight, Israeli drones flew at low altitude over the regions of Nabatieh and Jezzine. In the morning, another Israeli strike destroyed a container in Mhaibib, which had already been bombed the previous evening.
Following Friday morning's deadly strike, Israeli fighter jets flew at low altitude over the Nabatieh, West Bekaa and Baalbeck regions, while a drone circled over the Eastern Chain and the Bekaa plain, according to L'Orient Today's correspondents in both regions,
