Five killed as Israel strikes deep into Lebanese territory with attack on tanker convoy

At least five people were killed after Israel struck deep inside Lebanese territory overnight on Monday, including three Syrians reportedly working with Hezbollah, according to Lebanese media reports.

Israeli strikes targeted a convoy of tankers in the Hermel district, northeastern Lebanon, on the border with Syria, the French language daily L'Orient-Le Jour reported, adding that the convoy was entering the country from Syria.

The attack potentially marked the deepest Israeli penetration into Lebanon since border clashes broke out with Hezbollah, with Hermel lying some 130 kilometres (80 miles) away from the main source of fighting.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) also reported on the strikes, saying they targeted a road between Lebanon's Hermel and Syria's border area of Al-Qusayr.

"Three Syrians who work with Hezbollah and two Lebanese were killed in the Israeli airstrike," the SOHR's director, Rami Abdel Rahman, said.

"Three Syrians working with Hezbollah and two Lebanese were killed in an Israeli strike targeting a convoy of tankers entering Lebanon on the border with Syria."

Syrian anti-aircraft defence was activated to counter the attack, according to the war monitor.

AFP reported that nine Israeli missile strikes targeted the convoy and a building in Hermel.

The Israeli military said its "fighter jets struck a military complex of the Hezbollah 4400 unit, the logistical reinforcement unit of Hezbollah."

"The unit is used to smuggle weapons to and from Lebanon," it said in a statement, adding that it had hit two targets in the Baalbek region of eastern Lebanon.

A few hours before Monday's strikes, Hezbollah announced that it had shot down another Israeli Hermes drone over Lebanon, the fifth of this type since February.

Hezbollah, which has escalated its use of drones to attack Israeli military positions, claimed responsibility for several attacks on Monday, including one drone attack on military positions in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israel has also been stepping up its attacks on Hezbollah, particularly in the group's stronghold region Baalbek.

Hezbollah has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces in the eight months since the war on Gaza war began, leaving at least 462 people dead in Lebanon, including around 90 civilians and almost 300 Hezbollah fighters.