Israeli air strikes kill one in Lebanon's eastern city of Baalbek

Israel has continued to bomb Lebanon amid its war in Gaza, killing one person in the eastern city of Baalbek, as cross-border hostilities continue.
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Israel has repeatedly attacked Lebanon since October 8, after the military onslaught began [Getty/file photo]

Israel launched air strikes near Lebanon's eastern city of Baalbek Monday killing one person, a security source said, the second raid in the region since cross-border hostilities began after the deadly Gaza war.

Since October 8, the day after Israel began waging its war in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah and its arch-foe Israel have exchanged near-daily fire.

Strikes have largely remained confined to border regions, but several have hit Hezbollah positions further north in recent weeks, raising fears of a full-blown conflict.

"Israeli aircraft targeted a former Hezbollah building near Dar Al Amal Hospital" a security source told AFP, adding that Israel "conducted another raid on a warehouse west of Baalbek".

The strikes killed one person and injured six others, he added.

The governor of the Baalbek-Hermel region Bachir Khodr also said a man had been killed in the strikes near Baalbek in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Another security official confirmed the strikes, without mentioning casualties.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli air strikes on two locations, including the strike on the warehouse.

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The NNA also reported Israeli raids "targeting a residential building in the town of Ansar south of Baalbek".

"Fire and plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the targeted location," the NNA added.

The city of Baalbek in the Bekaa valley is a Hezbollah bastion, bordering Syria.

On February 26, Israeli strikes targeted Baalbek, some 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the border, killing two Hezbollah members in the deepest such raid into Lebanese territory since the hostilities began.

Hezbollah has repeatedly said that it will only stop its attacks on Israel when a ceasefire in Gaza is implemented.

But Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said recently that any truce in Gaza would not change Israel's goal of pushing Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon, by force or diplomacy.

Since the start of the Israel's war in Gaza on October 7, at least 316 people - mainly Hezbollah fighters -  and 53 civilians have been killed in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally.

Israel has gone to kill over 31,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the war, mostly women and children - amid international outcry.