Israel strike kills eight Hezbollah members in Bekaa as Lebanon president condemns 'act of aggression'

Israeli strike kills Hezbollah members

An Israeli airstrike in Lebanon killed eight members of Hezbollah, a group official told AFP on Saturday, saying the attack struck a meeting being held well away from the Israeli border.

The Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah operatives in the area, hours after announcing separate strikes on Hamas positions in southern Lebanon.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun denounced the raids, which came just days after the government said the army would begin implementing the second phase of a plan to disarm Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s health ministry reported that 10 people were killed in the east and two in the south — regions where Hezbollah maintains significant influence.

The attacks unfolded against a backdrop of rising tensions between the United States and Iran, with US President Donald Trump threatening military action over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Iran supports several allied groups across the region, including Hezbollah and Hamas.

The Hezbollah official, requesting anonymity, said all eight members of the group were attending a meeting in the eastern Bekaa region when a strike killed them.

A statement from the group on Friday said the raids killed a "commander".

The Israeli military said it targeted "several terrorists of Hezbollah's missile array in three different command centres in the Baalbek area".

An AFP correspondent in eastern Lebanon saw a bulldozer clearing debris following the strike on Bednayel, and a heavily damaged building between Riyak and Ali al-Nahri, where the Hezbollah official said the members were meeting.

The raids were in residential areas, according to the correspondent.

They came hours after an Israeli strike on the country's largest Palestinian refugee camp in the south killed two people, according to the health ministry, with Israel's army saying it had targeted Hamas.

Hamas in a statement condemned the attack, which it said led to "civilian" casualties, saying the targeted building "belongs to the joint security force charged with maintaining security and stability in the camp".

Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, usually saying it is targeting the group but occasionally also Hamas militants.

Lebanon's president called Friday's attacks "a blatant act of aggression aimed at thwarting diplomatic efforts" by the United States and other nations to establish stability.

Washington is one of five members on a multinational committee overseeing the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, with the body scheduled to meet again next week.

Hezbollah lawmaker Rami Abu Hamdan said the group "will not accept the authorities acting as mere political analysts, dismissing these as Israeli strikes we have grown accustomed to before every meeting of the committee".

He called on Beirut to "suspend the committee's meetings until the enemy ceases its attacks".

Lebanon's government last year committed to disarming the group, with the army saying last month it had completed the first phase of the plan covering the area near the Israeli border.

Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming since the war, has called the Lebanese army's progress on disarming the militant group insufficient.