Israel strikes near major Lebanese city, Saida

Israel carried out at least two airstrikes in Ghaziyeh, a town just five kilometres outside of the Lebanese city of Saida, on Monday afternoon, in what were the largest airstrikes carried out near a major population centre since cross-border clashes started four months ago between Israel and Hezbollah.

Videos of the airstrikes showed three large explosions in two different explosions with large plumes of black smoke emanating from the strike sites.

The exact targets of the airstrikes and the number of people killed or injured were still unclear by the time of publishing.

🚨 LEBANON RIGHT NOW:

ISR airstrikes on Saida - Ghaziyeh area - this is not close to the current frontlines and deep into Lebanon.

📷: Ghaziyeh attacked, reports suggest ISR hit a farm area - civilian area

This is the first time this area has been hit, its an escalation pic.twitter.com/28Rnaj9bL4

— Amar Mustafa | امار مصطفى (@Amarmustafa_) February 19, 2024

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in daily rocket exchanges since 8 October, in the wake of Hamas' surprise operation on the Gaza envelope.

Fighting has generally been constrained to within a few kilometres of the Lebanese-Israel border on either side, but in recent weeks, Israel has conducted a series of assassinations deeper into Lebanon.

Israeli strikes in populated urban areas north of the border have typically been extremely targeted in nature, seemingly to minimise casualties.

Monday's airstrikes were larger and more intense than previous Israeli strikes carried out beyond the regular theatre of operations near the Lebanese-Israeli frontier.