Lebanon: The south of the country was hit by at least two Israeli strikes, 30 km from the border

Two large-scale Israeli strikes were carried out simultaneously on Monday in the town of Ghazia, near Saida, the main city in southern Lebanon, the National News Agency (ANI, official) and an AFP photographer said.

ANI reported that “Israeli warplanes carried out several strikes on Gaziyeh,” located about thirty kilometers from the Israeli border. One of the strikes hit a car, the agency said, adding that ambulances were rushed to the scene, without providing further details.

An AFP photographer said at least two explosions occurred within seconds of each other in Ghazia. One of the raids targeted a warehouse located near the coastal highway, from which a thick cloud of smoke rose.

Videos circulating on social media showed clouds of black smoke hovering over two different locations.

Following an unprecedented attack by Palestinian Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, Lebanese Hezbollah engaged in a deadly firefight with the Israeli army on the Israeli-Lebanese border. The Shiite party says it is targeting Israeli military positions in support of the Islamist Hamas movement following Israel’s war against its ally in the Gaza Strip.

15 deaths last week

The Israeli army is responding with air and artillery bombardments that it says are targeting the party’s “infrastructure” and militant movements near the border.

Cross-border violence has escalated in the past week, with Israel carrying out a series of deadly strikes in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, killing at least 15 people, including 10 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

The strikes were carried out in response to an uncalled-for rocket attack from Lebanon on a military base in northern Israel that killed a female soldier.

At least 269 people, mostly Hezbollah and other allied groups, as well as 40 civilians, have been killed in southern Lebanon over more than four months, according to AFP. According to the army, ten soldiers and six civilians were killed on the Israeli side.