New Israeli operation on the Lebanese-Syrian border, clashes with Hezbollah

BEIRUT — Hezbollah said on Monday it fought an Israeli incursion, in which Israeli army soldiers crossed the Syrian border and landed in Nabi Sheet (Baalbeck) by helicopter, the second such operation over the weekend.

In a statement on Monday, Hezbollah said it detected "the infiltration of approximately 15 Israeli enemy helicopters."

At 12:10 a.m., the helicopters flew over the Anti-Lebanon range and “specifically over the villages of Janta, Yahfoufa, Nabi Sheet, Ersal and Ras Baalbeck.” Some reportedly landed an infantry force in the Sarghaya plain on the Syrian side of the border, whose movement toward Lebanese territory was observed.

The party said its fighters "engaged the helicopters and the infiltrating force with appropriate weapons, and the confrontation" was ongoing.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) earlier reported "fierce clashes towards the outskirts of the town of Nabi Sheet to repel Israeli forces that carried out a landing by helicopters" in the area.

Two Hezbollah officials in the Bekaa region, where Nabi Sheet is located, told AFP that an Israeli helicopter was downed.

The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the incident.

It is the second such attack after an Israeli incursion into Nabi Sheet and its surrounding areas overnight on Friday. Israel had ordered Nabi Sheet’s evacuation a day prior, alongside that of three other neighboring localities, and in the hours leading up to its ground operation, targeted the area with over a dozen strikes, killing at least 41 people, including three Lebanese Army soldiers and a General Security officer. Israel was reportedly attempting to exfiltrate the remains of Israeli army pilot Ron Arad, missing since an airborne mission over Lebanon in 1986.

Israel, which has kept up daily strikes on Lebanon despite a 2024 cease-fire, launched multiple waves of intense strikes last week across Lebanon and sent ground troops into border areas.

Closer to the Israeli border, Hezbollah said on Monday that it targeted Israeli soldiers entering the towns of Odaisseh and Aitaroun with artillery shells. Israel's military said that two of its soldiers were killed in combat in southern Lebanon.

It also said it clashed with Israeli soldiers in Odaisseh.

Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said on Sunday that Israeli strikes on Lebanon had killed 394 people over the past week, including 83 children and 42 women.