Israeli strike near the Masnaa border crossing, in the Bekaa, on August 7, 2025. Screenshot from a video obtained by our correspondent.
BEIRUT — Israel killed at least seven people in Lebanon on Thursday in drone strikes in the Bekaa, following the killings of two other people on Wednesday evening in a series of bombardments across southern Lebanon.
These attacks are a continuation of Israel's ongoing aggression against the country, despite having agreed to a cease-fire with Hezbollah, via the Lebanese government, in November 2024, and come as Cabinet holds highly anticipated high-stakes meetings on effectuating an arms monopoly and disarming Hezbollah.
On Wednesday afternoon, an Israeli drone hit a car as it was driving along the road that leads to the Masnaa border crossing with Syria, killing at least five people, according to a statement from the emergency operations center of the Ministry of Health.
Ten other people were injured in the attack and taken to Salloum Hospital in Taanayel.
According to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the Bekaa, it is believed the Israeli army was targeting Bilal Hani Ramadan, a senior official in the military wing of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, "the Dawn Forces." The group fought alongside Hezbollah during its latest war with Israel and is also close with Hamas. The vehicle that was hit had a Syrian license plate.
Earlier in the day, another Israeli drone strike killed an engineer in the Baalbeck district village of Kfar Dan as he was walking near the shrine of prophet Joseph. He was identified as Alaa Hani Haidar, who had two brothers who were also killed by Israel in previous airstrikes.
Israeli jets could be heard flying over several areas of the Bekaa throughout the afternoon, and the Lebanese Army announced that it had recovered two defective Israeli drones in Yaroun, a village in southern Lebanon's Bint Jbeil district. The army said it believed the drones had been conducting surveillance or mine detonation operations.
Flurry of air raids on Wednesday evening
Late Wednesday evening, the Israeli army launched a heavy wave of bombardments across southern Lebanon, bombing at least 19 locations across three districts. One person was killed and several were wounded.
Deir Siryan, Taybeh, and Adsheet al-Qouseir, in Marjayoun district, and Yohmor al-Shaqif, Ansar and Jbaa, in Nabatieh district, as well as Mahmoudieh, in Jezzine district, were among the villages that were attacked, according to information collected by L'Orient Today's correspondent in the South.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Health reported in a statement, "one Syrian national killed and two injured in Deir Seriane, Marjeyoun district." According to our correspondent, the victim was a Syrian worker performing maintenance on construction equipment in a garage hit by an Israeli missile.
Paramedics and rescue teams were unable to access the sites of the attacks for some time due to successive Israeli drone strikes.
The municipality of Deir Siryan, which was targeted with particularly heavy bombardment, released a statement condemning the "brutal and repeated Israeli attacks targeting safe areas in the South,” which “endanger the lives of civilians and their property, in flagrant violation of all international and humanitarian laws,” adding that it sees such attacks as an “attempt to break the resilience and unity” of southern Lebanese. Instead, it insisted, it would “only strengthen our commitment to our right to defend our land and our people by all legitimate means.”
The Israeli army, through its Arabic-speaking spokesperson Avichay Adraee, claimed it had targeted "Hezbollah positions, including weapons warehouses, a missile launch pad" and "construction equipment intended for the reconstruction of terrorist infrastructure."
Earlier on Wednesday, Israel killed an 11-year-old boy in a drone strike on a garage in the village of Tuline. A statement released Thursday by Hezbollah said the child’s name was Abbas Awala and that he was among the Imam Mehdi scouts, affiliated with the party. His funeral was held Thursday in the village.
According to L'Orient Today's count, which is based on U.N. and Health Ministry figures, Israel has killed at least 300 people in Lebanon since agreeing to a cease-fire in November 2024. These killings are in addition to the 4,047 dead and 16,638 wounded before the cease-fire, as officially recorded by the Ministry of Health in a report published in early December.
