Lebanon: Two killed in Israeli strike on Jounieh, north of Beirut

Lebanese authorities said two people were killed in an Israeli strike on Saturday in Jounieh, north of Beirut, the first attack on the area since Hezbollah and Israel started trading fire last year.

The strike occurred on the highway connecting Beirut to northern Lebanon, prompting a large deployment of troops and security forces, said an AFP correspondent in the area.

The road, a key artery for those fleeing the Israel-Hezbollah war since it erupted in the south last month, suffered minimal damage.

The health ministry said an Israeli raid there killed two people.

The official National News Agency said a man and his wife were killed in a drone strike on their four-wheel drive.

They were hit in a field adjacent to the road after escaping an initial strike near their vehicle, NNA said, without identifying them.

"I saw them run out of the car," said a witness who asked to remain anonymous. "They were then hit again."

Jounieh, a Christian-majority town, has not been hit since Israel and Hezbollah started exchanging cross-border fire over the Gaza war last year.

The tit-for-tat attacks escalated into all-out war on September 23, with Israel pounding villages in Lebanon's south and east as well as the southern suburbs of the capital. A significant number of those killed throughout Israel's aggression in Lebanon died in recent weeks.

Israel has also carried out a string of assassinations of officials linked to Hezbollah and Hamas.

Its strikes have reached areas outside of Hezbollah's traditional strongholds, including central Beirut and Christian villages in north Lebanon.

'Nowhere is safe'

At the scene of Saturday's strikes, motorists and residents were left rattled.

"I don't expect this area to remain safe," said Charbel Nakhoul, who was having breakfast at a nearby bakery when the strike shattered all its windows.

"As long as there are displaced people from the south in our areas, they will be bombed," said the 54-year-old.

Nour Mahdar, who lives nearby, had similar concerns.

"We thought this area was very safe," said the 22-year-old who heard the strikes from his home.

"Now, nowhere is safe, and I don't know what the solution is," he told AFP.

The war has left at least 1,418 people dead in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.

More than a million people have been forced to flee their homes, including thousands who have crossed into neighbouring Syria.