On Saturday, Israel carried out an airstrike against the industrial-residential area of the southern Lebanon city of Nabatieh, killing at least 10 people and wounding five others, two of them seriously. Officials say that the airstrike hit a residential building.
Reports from the Lebanon Health Ministry are that all 10 of the slain were Syrian nationals. The attack appears to have targeted the residences of people working in the industrial area and their families. A mother and two of her children were among the slain.
Israel claimed that the attack targeted a weapons storage facility belonging to Hezbollah. Locals said that was not the case, and the factory owner said they are a “well-known family” in the area not aligned with any political party.
Hezbollah issued an announcement saying that all of the slain were civilians. Reportedly they fired some 55 rockets against northern Israel’s Ayelet HaShahar in retaliation. Israel’s Defense Forces claimed there were no injuries in the attack.
Later, however, the Israeli Army issued a statement reporting that two soldiers had been wounded in an attack near the Lebanon border. They did not offer details on how they were injured, so this may have been separate from the 55 rockets fired. One of the two was reported seriously wounded, the other lightly.
The Israeli attack took place overnight, just hours after negotiations to try to broker a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip had ended. US and French officials have said that a Gaza truce is a key step to preventing an Israeli war in Lebanon.