BEIRUT JERUSALEM — Israeli strikes on the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon killed 12 people on Tuesday, Lebanese state media reported, as the Israeli army said it hit Hezbollah targets in the area.

 

"Enemy warplanes launched raids on the Wadi Fara area in the northern Bekaa Valley, one of which targeted a camp for displaced Syrians, resulting in the deaths of 12 martyrs, including seven Syrians, and eight wounded," Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported.

 

 

 

(AFP) — Israel's military said it was striking targets belonging to Hizbollah's elite Radwan force in eastern Lebanon on Tuesday, the latest attack despite a ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group.

 

"Moments ago, Israeli Air Force fighter jets... began numerous strikes toward Hizbollah terror targets in the area of Beqaa, Lebanon," it said in a statement.

 

"The military compounds that were struck were used by the Hizbollah terrorist organisation for training and exercising terrorists to plan and carry out terrorist attacks against [Israel ] troops and the State of Israel," it added.

 

Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite a November ceasefire that sought to end over a year of hostilities between Israel and Hizbollah, including two months of all-out war that left the group severely weakened.

 

Defence Minister Israel Katz said the latest strikes were "a clear message" to Hizbollah and the Lebanese government "which is responsible for upholding the agreement."

 

"We will strike every terrorist and thwart any threat to the residents of the north and to the State of Israel, and we will respond with maximum force against any attempt at rebuilding," he said in a statement from his ministry.

 

The military statement said an Israeli operation in September 2024 had "eliminated" Radwan force commanders in Beirut and southern Lebanon, but that "since then the unit has been operating to reestablish its capabilities".

 

"The storage of weapons and the activities of the Hizbollah terrorist organisation at these sites constitute a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and constitute a future threat to the State of Israel," it added.

 

Under the November ceasefire deal, Hizbollah was to pull its fighters back north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometres from the Israeli border, leaving the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers as the only armed parties in the region.

 

Israel was required to fully withdraw its troops from the country but has kept them in five places it deems strategic.