Israel launches strikes in eastern Lebanon
Israel’s military said on Sunday its warplanes had struck sites in eastern Lebanon, where the Lebanese groups has a strong presence, in retaliation for one of its drones being downed.
A source close to the groups said in eastern Lebanon’s Baalbek region that the strikes targeted Janta and Sifri in the Bekaa Valley, around 80 kilometres from the closest Israeli frontier.
The Israeli military said on Telegram that “fighter jets struck a military complex and three other infrastructure sites belonging to groups’ air defence network” in the region.
It said the strikes were “in retaliation for the attack” in which an army “drone was shot down” by a surface-to-air missile on Saturday.
A source from Lebanon’s civil defence said there were no casualties.
Israel and Lebanese groups have exchanged neardaily cross-border fire since Palestinian groups carried out an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, triggering war in Gaza.
The Palestinian ally generally targets Israeli positions close to the border, while Israel has carried out deeper raids into Lebanese territory.
On Sunday, the group said it fired “dozens of Katyusha rockets” at two Israeli bases “in response to the enemy’s attacks on the Bekaa area”.
Sifri is located in the Bekaa Valley plain, while nearby Janta is an arid mountainous region closer to the border with Syria.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said the target of the Israeli strikes in Sifri was a “hangar”.
Israel launched similar strikes against targets in the Bekaa Valley in February after the group said it had shot down another Israeli drone.
The movement said that it had not yet used its “main” weapons, and reiterated that it would cease its attacks only when the war in Gaza ends.
The cross-border hostilities have killed at least 359 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters, but also at least 70 civilians, according to a tally.