Israeli strikes kill 10 in Bekaa; Senior Hezbollah official among dead

At least 10 people were killed and 50 wounded in Israeli airstrikes in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on Friday, two security sources told international media, after Israel said it had targeted Hezbollah sites in the Baalbek area.

The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah command centres in Baalbek, part of the Bekaa Valley. A senior Hezbollah official was among those killed, the sources said. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.

The strikes are among the deadliest reported in eastern Lebanon in recent weeks and threaten to test a fragile US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-aligned Shi’ite group Hezbollah. The truce, agreed in 2024, was aimed at ending more than a year of cross-border hostilities that culminated in intense Israeli bombardment.

Since then, both sides have accused each other of violating the ceasefire. US and Israeli officials have urged Lebanese authorities to rein in Hezbollah’s arsenal, while Lebanese leaders have warned that expanded Israeli strikes could further destabilise the crisis-hit country.

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Separately, the Israeli military said it targeted what it described as a Hamas command centre in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon in southern Lebanon. Hamas rejected the claim, saying the site belonged to the camp’s Joint Security Force responsible for maintaining security.