Israeli jets hit Lebanon's Bekaa Valley for a second day
Item
1 of 5 A general view shows a damaged site that was hit by a strike,
after Israel launched four strikes on eastern Lebanon's Baalbek on March
11, according to security sources, in Douris, Lebanon March 12, 2024.
REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
[1/5]A
general view shows a damaged site that was hit by a strike, after
Israel launched four strikes on eastern Lebanon's Baalbek on March 11,
according to security sources, in Douris, Lebanon March 12, 2024.
REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir Purchase Licensing Rights BEIRUT,
March 12 (Reuters) - Israeli warplanes struck deep into Lebanon for a
second consecutive day on Tuesday, hitting a facility belonging to
Hezbollah in the Bekaa Valley, sources in Lebanon said.
Two Hezbollah members from the Bekaa Valley were killed, the Iran-backed group said in a statement late on Tuesday.
The
Israeli military said its fighter jets had "struck two Hezbollah
military command centers" in the Baalbek area, in response to Hezbollah
rocket launches towards northern Israel earlier in the day.
The violence marked an uptick of the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel which has been fought in parallel to the
Gaza war and fuelled fears of an all-out conflict between the heavily-armed adversaries.
Hezbollah
said in a statement it had fired more than 100 Katyusha rockets at 7:00
a.m. (0500 GMT), targeting several Israeli military posts, in response
to Israeli shelling of the Bekaa Valley region on Monday night.
At
least one civilian
was killed and several others were wounded in Monday's strikes by
Israel, one of which hit the southern entrance to the city of Baalbek,
about 2 km (1.2 miles) from its ancient Roman ruins, two security
sources in Lebanon and the Baalbek governor, Bashir Khader, said.
The
Israeli military said that in response to Monday's rocket launches, its
fighter jets had struck sites in the Baalbek area which Hezbollah used
to store "significant assets used to strength its weapons arsenal".
"A
military compound in the area of Khiam and terrorist infrastructure in
the area of Bint Jbeil were also struck," the Israeli military added,
referring to two towns in southern Lebanon.
The
Hezbollah member was killed and several more were wounded in an
airstrike in the Bekaa Valley village of Nabi Chit, said one of the
Lebanese sources.
HEZBOLLAH STRONGHOLD
The targeted region is a stronghold of the Shi'ite Islamist group near the Lebanese-Syrian border.
The
hostilities are the worst since Hezbollah and Israel fought a war in
2006. The violence has oscillated day by day, but strikes by both sides
have broadly intensified over time and targeted a wider range of areas.
Much
of the violence been contained to areas near the border, with notable
exceptions including Israel's first airstrike in the Bekaa Valley on
Feb. 26, and a Jan. 2 Israeli drone strike in Beirut that killed a top
Hamas leader.
Israeli
strikes since October have killed more than 200 Hezbollah fighters and
some 50 civilians in Lebanon, while attacks from Lebanon into Israel
have killed a dozen Israeli soldiers and six civilians. Tens of
thousands of Israelis and Lebanese have fled villages on both sides of
the frontier.
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Reporting
by Laila Bassam in Beirut, James Mackenzie in Jerusalem, and Jana
Choukeir in Dubai; Writing by Maya Gebeily and Tom Perry; Editing by
Peter Graff, Kim Coghill, Timothy Heritage and Deepa Babington