The Israeli army bombed villages in southern and eastern Lebanon on Saturday, targeting Hezbollah, after the Lebanese movement claimed attacks against northern Israel, we learned from reliable sources. Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas on October 7, Hezbollah has regularly exchanged fire with the Israeli army, in support of its Palestinian ally.
“Over the past 72 hours, air forces struck more than 40 military targets in Lebanon, targeting infrastructure where Hezbollah terrorists operate as well as launchers used to strike Israeli territory,” the Israeli army said in a statement. communicated. A source within the Islamic Health Committee, affiliated with Hezbollah, claimed that “16 children aged 4 to 14 were taken to hospital due to injuries they suffered” during a strike carried out ” by an Israeli warplane. The National News Agency (ANI) reported that an Israeli raid left seven people injured in the town of Siddiqin, in the Tire region.
Earlier on Saturday, the pro-Iranian movement announced that it had “shot down a Hermes 900 type drone”. The Israeli army confirmed that a “surface-to-air missile” had shot down one of its drones “operating in Lebanese airspace”. The Shiite movement, which deplored the death of two fighters killed by Israel on Friday, also indicated on Saturday that it had carried out an air attack “using explosive drones (…) targeting the positions of enemy officers and soldiers”.
“Riposte”
The attack is a “response” to a drone strike against a motorcycle in Majdal Selm which left two people injured in the morning, the Islamic Health Committee explained to AFP. The Israeli army said in a statement that “two Hezbollah terrorists operating in the Majdal Selm region were struck by a plane.”
Hezbollah also said it was carrying out other attacks against Israeli military positions on Saturday, “in response to Israeli aggression against southern localities and civilian homes.” “The enemy (Israel) intensified its attacks last night,” ANI said on Saturday, reporting in particular a “series of drone strikes (…) causing deaths, injuries and significant damage ” in several border areas.
Israeli airstrikes also targeted several areas of southern Lebanon on Saturday, the agency said in the evening. On Saturday morning, the Israeli army indicated that its planes had struck “important installations” of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon the previous evening, notably in Adloun, 30 kilometers from the border, “in response to shooting towards the northern Israel. On Friday evening, a woman was killed on the outskirts of Adloun and several other people injured by an Israeli drone strike against a house which was “completely destroyed”, according to ANI.
Two strikes also targeted Hezbollah positions near Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, far from the border with Israel, wounding two people, according to a source close to the Shiite movement. Nearly eight months of border violence have left almost 450 dead in Lebanon, the majority combatants and more than 80 civilians, according to an AFP count. On the Israeli side, at least 14 soldiers and 11 civilians were killed in these clashes, according to the authorities.