At least five said killed as Israel hits Hezbollah sites in northeast Lebanon

At least five people were reported killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon’s eastern Beqaa valley targeting sites allegedly used by the Hezbollah terror group to plan attacks.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, air force planes hit Hezbollah military compounds belonging to the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, where operatives were gathered and where weapons were stored.

The attack involved 12 separate strikes, across the Hermel region in the north of the valley, Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen News reported.

“The Israeli enemy strikes on the Bekaa and the outskirts of Hermel led to a preliminary toll of five dead and five others wounded,” Lebanon’s health ministry said.

The IDF said the sites were “used by the Hezbollah terror organization for conducting training, preparing terrorists for planning and carrying out terror attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel.”

“As part of the training and preparation of the terrorists in the camps, the terrorists undergo shooting drills and additional training in the use of various types of weapons,” the military said.

The training and use of the sites by Hezbollah to store weapons are a “blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and pose a threat to the State of Israel,” the IDF said.

Under a November 27 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, weapons in Lebanon were to be held only by the state, and the IDF was permitted to act against imminent threats by the terror group.

Israel has since carried out hundreds of attacks on Hezbollah personnel or assets, the vast majority of them in southern Lebanon, though it has also taken action deeper inside the country, including in the Beqaa valley, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group.

On Friday, Lebanon’s cabinet approved a plan to disarm the terror group, whose ministers and other Shi’ites in the government walked out on the meeting. Details of the disarmament plan remain secret.

The ceasefire agreement came after nearly 14 months of conflict sparked by the Hezbollah’s unprovoked launching of near-daily attacks on Israeli border communities starting October 8, 2023 — a day after fellow Iran-backed group Hamas stormed southern Israel, sparking the Gaza war.

The Hezbollah attacks displaced some 60,000 residents of northern Israel. In a bid to secure their return, Israel stepped up operations in Lebanon in September 2024, decimating Hezbollah’s leadership.