A car burns in the Bekaa Valley, near the Masnaa border crossing, after being targeted in an Israeli army strike on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (credit: Screenshot from a video obtained by our correspondent Sarah Abdallah)
BEIRUT — After a relatively calm day in Lebanon, the Israeli army struck a vehicle on Sunday evening in the Majdal Anjar area of the Bekaa, near the Masnaa border crossing, killing four people, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent. Israel’s deputy military spokesperson said on X that the strike targeted members of the Islamic Jihad.
Images on social media show the car burned out. According to our correspondent, all four people inside the vehicle at the time of the strike were killed.
Elsewhere in southern Lebanon, several Israeli attacks were reported during the day, according to our correspondent. In the morning, four Israeli soldiers opened a gate in a border fence near the so-called “wall” area east of the village of Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun district) and carried out a reconnaissance operation on Lebanese territory before withdrawing behind the barrier. They then took up positions at the Israeli post of al-Assi opposite the area. Israeli incursions into Lebanese territory near the border are frequent and generally aim to blow up homes.
Cluster munitions
The Israeli army also fired cluster munitions into Lebanese territory near its Rweissat al-Alam position in Kfar Shuba (Hasbaya district), our correspondent said. It also fired toward the outskirts of Kfar Shuba using medium-caliber automatic weapons.
Cluster munitions scatter small bomblets randomly over dozens of meters; some fail to explode on impact and become landmines. Their use, production, transfer and stockpiling are banned under the 2008 United Nations Convention on Cluster Munitions. Israel is not a signatory to the convention, unlike Lebanon.
Later in the afternoon, an Israeli army drone dropped a stun bomb near a shepherd in the Hounine Valley area (Marjayoun district), without injuring him. Another Israeli drone crashed and was found in the central square of the village of Houla, in the same district. Three artillery shells were also fired at the Shelala area on the outskirts of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil district). Israeli soldiers fired medium-caliber automatic weapons toward the village from their position at Malikiya, opposite the village.
Jezzine district shelled Saturday night
On Saturday night, the Israeli army carried out a series of strikes in southern Lebanon, mainly targeting the Jezzine district north of the Litani River shortly after 10 p.m., without causing casualties. It said it hit infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah, according to a post on X by the Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, who said weapons depots and rocket-launching platforms were destroyed.
The strikes first hit the Bsaliyeh area and the Sajad-Mlih hills. Israel also struck the outskirts of Houmin Fawqa (Nabatieh district) and the Baghaz Valley (Hasbaya district). Later, three more strikes hit the Jabal al-Rihan hills. One strike hit near a stone factory on the Sajad–Rihan road, without no casualties reported.
Shortly after 11 p.m., Israeli aircraft launched another series of strikes on the outskirts of Sajad and around the heights of Iqlim al-Tuffah, notably in Mlita and Jabal Safi. The strikes used penetrating, high-explosive missiles, whose blasts were heard in villages in the Hasbaya and Nabatieh districts, our correspondent said.
Shortly before 10 p.m., a quadcopter drone dropped explosive charges on an uninhabited house in the Kassayr neighborhood east of Mais al-Jabal (Marjeyoun district). The same building had already been hit by three explosive devices in previous attacks.
Despite the cease-fire reached in late November 2024 with Hezbollah, Israel occupies at least five positions in southern Lebanon and carries out near-daily bombardments of the region.
The latest escalation comes ahead of a Cabinet meeting Monday at which Lebanese Army commander Gen. Rodolph Haykal is expected to present his vision for the second phase of a plan to restore the state’s monopoly on arms, focusing on the area between the Awali and Litani rivers.
Hezbollah MP Ali Fayad on Sunday warned the government against setting any “timeline” or making “new commitments” regarding the disarmament of the group north of the Litani River, a step Israel and members of the international community have been pressing for.
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