Israeli airstrikes on Friday night killed at least 10 people in eastern Lebanon, according to Lebanese officials, despite a ceasefire.
The Israeli military said it had targeted locations belonging to Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim militia and political party, in the Bekaa Valley, an area where the group has a strong presence.
Hezbollah confirmed that at least six of its members had been killed, including a senior field commander. The attacks are among the deadliest in Lebanon since the end of the war between Israel and Hezbollah in November 2024.
The BBC writes that despite the agreement, which followed 13 months of conflict, Israel has carried out almost daily attacks on Lebanon.
Footage posted online from one of the locations hit on Friday evening showed extensive damage in a neighborhood that appeared to be residential.
In a statement, the Israeli military said it had struck “Hezbollah command centers” and that Hezbollah “systematically places its assets within the civilian population.” The statement also said the group’s activities were “a violation of agreements between Israel and Lebanon.”
Hezbollah, considered a terrorist organization by countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, says the ceasefire agreement applies only to southern Lebanon, in the area between the Litani River and the Blue Line, the unofficial border between Lebanon and Israel.
There, the Lebanese army has dismantled the infrastructure used by the group, in the first phase of a plan to disarm Hezbollah after its devastating 13-month war with Israel.
The group, however, has so far rejected calls from Lebanese authorities to discuss the future of its weapons in other parts of the country, including the Bekaa Valley, where part of its arsenal is believed to be located.
This week, Hezbollah rejected a government decision to advance the second phase of a disarmament plan in areas between the northern Litani and the Awali River in the port city of Sidon. The Lebanese government said Israel's continued actions constituted a violation of the ceasefire agreement and called on the international community to pressure Israel to stop the attacks.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam recently said the situation had turned into a "one-sided war of consumption."
