Israel strikes deep in east Lebanon after soldier killed

Israel struck Hezbollah weapons depots on Monday deep in Lebanon's east, a source close to the group told AFP, in a raid confirmed by the Israeli military.

It came after an Israeli soldier was killed in northern Israel, amid 10 months of cross-border clashes between Hezbollah and Israel.

"Israeli strikes in the [eastern] Bekaa region targeted Hezbollah weapons depots," said the source close to the Lebanese group, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Israel's military said fighter jets "struck a number of Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in the area of Bekaa in Lebanon", triggering secondary blasts that indicated "large amounts of weapons" had been hit.

Lebanon's health ministry said the strikes in east Lebanon injured eight people.

Hezbollah has exchanged regular fire with Israel following the start of the Gaza war in October.

The violence has largely been restricted to the Lebanon-Israel border area, although Israel has repeatedly struck the country's eastern Bekaa valley, where Hezbollah has a strong presence.

Fears of further escalation have mounted as Hezbollah and Iran vowed to respond after an Israeli strike last month on Beirut killed a top Hezbollah operations chief, Fuad Shukr, hours before an attack in Tehran, blamed on Israel, killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

'Fell during combat'

Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military said a member of its Bedouin Trackers Unit "fell during combat in northern Israel".

Lebanon's health ministry also reported a person was killed after "an Israeli enemy drone strike that targeted a car" near the coastal city of Tyre.

Hezbollah said two of its fighters were "martyred", which followed Lebanon's health ministry reporting that an Israeli strike left two people dead in the border village of Hula.

Israel's military said its air force struck "Hezbollah terrorists" in the Hula area and "Hezbollah military structures" elsewhere in south Lebanon.

Hezbollah had said that it had responded to an Israeli "attack and assassination" in south Lebanon's Tyre area, where the Israeli army on Saturday said its aircraft had "eliminated" a Hezbollah "commander" in the group's elite Radwan force.

The group said it launched a "simultaneous air attack" with "explosive-laden drones" on the Israeli Yaara barracks near the border, and a base near the coastal town of Acre, around 15 kilometres (10 miles) from the frontier.

The Israeli military said "multiple suspicious aerial targets were identified crossing from Lebanon", most of which were intercepted though others fell in the Yaara area.

Early on Monday, Hezbollah also said its fighters targeted a group of Israeli soldiers "infiltrating" near the border and confronted them "with rocket weapons and artillery, forcing them to return".

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported "enemy warplanes" flying at low altitude broke the sound barrier twice over Beirut and its suburbs.

'Impunity'

Imran Riza, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, said in a statement that "nearly 150,000 people continue to live in areas impacted daily by shelling and air strikes" in Lebanon.

"Millions more are reliving painful memories of the 2006 war, traumatised by worry over the risk of further escalation," he said, referring to the last major bout of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

According to the UN's International Organization for Migration, the violence since October has displaced more than 110,000 people in south Lebanon.

In Israel, authorities say around 100,000 people have been displaced in the country's north.

Riza added that "21 paramedics whose duties were to save others have been killed", saying "the seeming impunity with which such actions have been committed reveals a troubling disregard for international humanitarian law".

The cross-border violence has killed 585 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but including at least 128 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, including in the occupied Golan Heights, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, according to army figures.