Lebanon’s public health ministry said that at least 10 people were killed in Israeli strikes overnight. Israel’s military said it had targeted Hezbollah command centers in the east of the country.
Hezbollah said eight of its members were among those killed in the attacks late Friday. Health authorities did not identify any of the dead and said in a statement that at least 24 people were also wounded in the strikes, among them three children.
The attacks in the Baalbek area of the Bekaa Valley threatened to further destabilize an already tenuous cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah that was mediated by the United States in late 2024. Israel has continued to carry out near-daily strikes on what it says are Hezbollah sites in Lebanon.
The strikes also came as President Trump weighs how to confront Iran over its nuclear program. If Washington opts for military action, Iran-backed groups like Hezbollah could retaliate against U.S. forces and allies, creating multiple fronts and amplifying the conflict beyond Iran’s borders.
On Saturday, Mahmoud Qomati, a senior Hezbollah official, was quoted in local news media as saying that the latest strikes constituted a new act of aggression, and that the group had no option but to resist.
Hezbollah held funerals on Saturday for its members killed in the strikes. Among them was Hussein Mohamed Yaghi, a senior commander and the son of a prominent Hezbollah figure who died in 2023.
Israel has previously targeted senior Hezbollah figures and, last November, assassinated Haytham Ali Tabatabai, whom it described as the group’s military chief of staff.
The attacks in eastern Lebanon followed Israeli airstrikes earlier in the day on Ain al-Hilweh, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon.
Israel said that the targeted site was used as a command center for Hamas, another militant group with which it was at war in Gaza until a cease-fire was agreed last October.
At least one person was killed and several others injured in the attack, according to Lebanon’s state media.
Hamas condemned the attacks in a statement, saying the targeted facility “belongs to the joint security force responsible for maintaining safety and stability within the camp.”
Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, condemned the Israeli strikes in the Bekaa Valley, adding that they “represent a new violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty.”
Rawan Sheikh Ahmad contributed reporting.
Abdi Latif Dahir is a Middle East correspondent for The Times, covering Lebanon and Syria. He is based in Beirut.
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