Beirut: Lebanon said Israeli strikes on the country&#39;s east and south killed at least eight people on Friday, with Israel&#39;s army saying it targeted militant group Hezbollah and its Palestinian ally Hamas. A Hezbollah source told AFP that a military leader from the Iran-backed group was among the dead in the strikes in the eastern Bekaa Valley. 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. Israeli strikes in the Bekaa &quot;led to an initial toll of six dead and more than 25 wounded, distributed across the region&#39;s hospitals,&quot; the state-run National News Agency said. The agency had earlier reported &quot;heavy strikes&quot; in several locations in the region, including a raid on a building in Riyak. Israel&#39;s army said it hit &quot;Hezbollah command centers&quot; in the Baalbek area. The raids came hours after an Israeli strike on the country&#39;s largest Palestinian refugee camp killed two people, according to the health ministry, with Israel&#39;s army saying it had targeted Hamas. The NNA said &quot;an Israeli drone&quot; targeted a neighborhood of the Ain al-Helweh camp, which is located on the outskirts of the southern city of Sidon. An AFP correspondent saw smoke rising from a building in the densely populated camp as ambulances headed to the scene. Hamas&nbsp;The Israeli army said in a statement that its forces &quot;struck a Hamas command center from which terrorists operated.&quot; The Israeli military &quot;is operating against the entrenchment&quot; of the Palestinian militant group in Lebanon and will &quot;continue to act decisively against Hamas terrorists wherever they operate,&quot; it added. Hamas in a statement condemned the attack, which it said led to &quot;civilian&quot; casualties. It rejected Israel&#39;s allegations as &quot;flimsy pretexts,&quot; saying the targeted building &quot;belongs to the joint security force charged with maintaining security and stability in the camp.&quot; A raid on Ain al-Helweh last November that Israel said targeted a Hamas training compound killed 13 people. The UN rights office had said 11 children were killed in that strike, while Hamas denied it had military installations in Palestinian camps in Lebanon. In October 2023, Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israel in support of Hamas at the outset of the Gaza war, triggering hostilities that culminated in two months of all-out war between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group. Lebanon&#39;s government last year committed to disarming Hezbollah, and the army said last month that it had completed the first phase of the plan, covering the area near the Israeli border. Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming, has criticized the army&#39;s progress as insufficient.

Middle East

An Israeli strike in south Lebanon hit the country's largest Palestinian refugee camp, while the Israeli army said it targeted the Palestinian group.

Lebanon says 8 dead in Israeli strikes on east, south

SIDON: Lebanon said an Israeli strike on Tuesday night on a crowded Palestinian refugee camp in the country&#39;s south killed at least 13 people, as Israel said it struck a Hamas compound. The fighter group denied it had military installations in Palestinian camps in Lebanon and called Israel&#39;s claims &quot;lies.&quot; An AFP correspondent saw firefighters putting out a blaze on the lower floor of a stricken building, as gunmen fired shots to clear crowds from the path of ambulances that were streaming into Ain al-Helweh, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, located on the outskirts of the coastal city of Sidon. Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon despite a ceasefire agreed last November that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hamas ally Hezbollah, including two months of full-blown war. Israel usually says it is targeting operatives or sites belonging to Hezbollah, but it has also struck Hamas operatives in Lebanon. Lebanon&#39;s health ministry reported &quot;13 dead and a number of others wounded&quot; in the strike, adding that &quot;ambulances are still transporting more wounded to nearby hospitals.&quot; The state-run National News Agency said the strike targeted a car in a parking lot near the Khalid bin al-Walid mosque and that &quot;subsequently it was reported that the raid also targeted&quot; the mosque itself and a center of the same name. The AFP correspondent did not see any damage to the mosque, while a medic said that rescue workers were removing body parts from the area. The Israeli military said in a statement that it &quot;struck terrorists who operated in a Hamas training compound in the Ain al-Helweh area in southern Lebanon,&quot; adding that it was &quot;operating against Hamas&#39;s establishment in Lebanon.&quot; Hamas denial&nbsp;But Hamas, blaming Israel for a &quot;brutal assault&quot; on the Ain al-Helweh camp, said in a statement that &quot;claims that the targeted location was a &#39;training compound affiliated with the movement&#39; are pure fabrications and lies.&quot; &quot;There are no military installations in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon,&quot; it added. The Israeli military released a video of a strike hitting a building, but Hamas claimed that &quot;the targeted site was an open sports field frequented by the youth of the camp,&quot; and that &quot;those targeted were a group of young boys&quot; on the field at the time. In October 2023, Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israel in support of Hamas over the Gaza war, triggering months of exchanges. Disarming LebanonUnder heavy US pressure and fear of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon&#39;s government has begun disarming Hezbollah and is seeking to disarm all non-state groups. During a visit to Beirut in May, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas agreed with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun that weapons in Lebanon&#39;s Palestinian refugee camps would be handed over to the Lebanese authorities. Some Palestinian factions in Ain al-Helweh handed over weapons in September, a Palestinian official said at the time, but Hamas has not announced plans to disarm in Lebanon. In April, Israel killed a Hamas commander in a pre-dawn strike in Sidon that also killed his adult son and daughter. Earlier on Tuesday, Lebanon said Israeli strikes elsewhere in the country&#39;s south killed two people. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment on those raids. Lebanon hosts about 222,000 Palestinian refugees, according to the United Nations agency, UNRWA. By longstanding convention, the Lebanese army stays out of the Palestinian camps and leaves Palestinian factions to handle security.

Hamas says claims that targeted location was a 'training compound affiliated with the movement' are pure fabrications, lies; adds there are no military installations in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon.

Articles tagged with "Israel air strikes on Lebanon"

Lebanon says 8 dead in Israeli strikes on east, south

Lebanon says 13 dead in strike on Palestinian camp, Israel says hit Hamas compound