An Israeli strike in Lebanon kills 10 and triggers response from Hezbollah as tensions simmer

NABATIEH, Lebanon (AP) — An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon early Saturday killed at least 10 Syrian nationals, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The strike on Wadi al-Kfour in Nabatieh province is among the deadliest in Lebanon since the Hezbollah militant group and Israeli military started trading strikes on Oct. 8, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel and sparked the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Hezbollah maintains that it will stop its attacks once a cease-fire is reached in the Gaza Strip.

Among the dead were a woman and her two children, the ministry said. Five others were wounded, two of whom in critical condition.

An Arabic-language spokesperson for the Israeli military, Avichay Adraee, said the strike in the southern province targeted a weapons depot belonging to Hezbollah.

Mohammad Shoaib, who runs a slaughterhouse in Wadi al-Kfour, said the area struck was an “industrial and civilian area” that contained factories producing bricks, metal, and aluminum, as well as a dairy farm.

The uncle of three of the people killed in the strike said they were factory workers who were in their housing accomodation when they were hit. He denied that there were weapons at the facility.

“There was nothing at all like that,” Hussein Shahoud said. “There was metal for construction, for building, for all kinds of purposes.”

Hezbollah later announced it had fired a volley of rockets at the community of Ayelet HaShahar, near Safad in northern Israel in retaliation for the strike. The statement said that all 10 victims in Lebanon were civilians. Hezbollah typically issues death notices when its members are killed.

The Israeli army said 55 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon, some of which fell in open areas. No injuries were reported, but the strikes ignited multiple fires, it said. Earlier Saturday, two Israeli soldiers were injured, one seriously, by a strike coming from Lebanon that hit the area of Misgav Am.

The Israeli military also said it had killed a Hezbollah commander Saturday in a separate strike in the area of the coastal city of Tyre. Lebanese state media reported that one person was killed in a strike on a motorcyclist near Tyre. Hezbollah identified him as its member Hussein Ibrahim Kasseb. It did not give his rank or say where he was killed.

The Lebanese government and international governments have scrambled for weeks to put an end to the monthslong clashes, with the region on a knife edge since July.

An Israeli strike last month in southern Beirut killed Hezbollah’s top commander, whom Israel accused of leading a rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 youths. Hours later, an explosion widely blamed on Israel killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital.

Both Tehran and Hezbollah vowed to retaliate, but have not yet launched strikes as diplomatic endeavors and Gaza cease-fire talks continue in Qatar.

Hezbollah and Israel fought a six-week war in the summer of 2006 that ended in a draw. Hezbollah’s military capabilities have developed significantly since then.

More than 500 people have been killed by Israeli strikes since Oct. 8, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and other armed groups but also including around 100 civilians and noncombatants. In norther Israel, 22 soldiers and 24 civilians have been killed by strikes from Lebanon. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of tense frontier.

Also Saturday, Lebanon’s state utility Electricité du Liban announced that its power plants had exhausted their supply of fuel oil and would stop producing electricity until more supply is secured.

Lebanon has struggled with severe electricity shortages for years, particularly since the country fell into a protracted financial crisis in 2019. Homes and businesses rely largely on generators and, increasingly, solar panels for power as the state typically supplies electricity only a few hours a day. The meagre state electricity supply relies on fuel oil provided by Iraq, but issues have arisen between the two countries due to Lebanon not having paid for the supply.

___

Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Jack Jeffery in Jerusalem and Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.