At least 41 killed in Israeli air attacks on Lebanon’s Bekaa

At least 41 people have been killed and 40 wounded in Israeli air-and-ground raids on Lebanon’s town of Nabi Chit, in the eastern Bekaa Valley, according to the Ministry of Public Health.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has launched numerous deadly attacks and sent ground troops into southern Lebanon, but until now not further north in the east, since the Iran-aligned Lebanese group Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on Monday to avenge the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, joining the war.

According to Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA), an Israeli commando unit “infiltrated under the cover of darkness” towards a family cemetery in the eastern part of Nabi Chit overnight.

“After being spotted by resistance fighters and local residents, clashes ensued with the commandos using light and medium weapons,” the agency said, adding warplanes and helicopters intervened intensively and carried out about 40 raids after the Israeli units were exposed.

The deaths included at least three Lebanese army soldiers and one member of the general security directorate, according to NNA.

This latest reported raid would be the deepest Israeli forces’ incursion inside Lebanon since special unit troops apprehended Hezbollah operative Imad Amhaz from the northern city of Batroun in November 2024.

Meanwhile, clashes erupted as Israeli forces attempted a landing operation along the Lebanon-Syria border with Hezbollah saying its fighters were involved, according to NNA, as this fierce front in the wider regional war launched by the United States and Israel boils over.

The NNA said, “Clashes are taking place on the eastern mountain range along the Lebanese-Syrian border … to repel Israeli landing attempts.”

‘Infiltration from the Syrian direction’

The news agency gave the location of the incursion as Nabi Chit, in the eastern Baalbek district, where Hezbollah holds sway.

Hezbollah said in a statement its soldiers “observed the infiltration of four Israeli enemy army helicopters from the Syrian direction”.

After landing, advancing troops “were engaged by a group” of Hezbollah fighters as they reached the Nabi Chit cemetery, Hezbollah said.

“The clash escalated after the enemy force was exposed,” it added, saying the Israeli troops launched intense strikes and began to evacuate.

A separate statement said Hezbollah fighters had fired rockets as the Israeli forces withdrew.

Fighters “targeted the evacuation zone in the outskirts of the town of Nabi Chit with rocket fire”, the group said. Footage shared on social media showed waves of gunfire in the air.

Nabi Chit was the target of at least 13 Israeli air strikes on Friday, according to the NNA, with the Lebanese Health Ministry reporting at least nine people killed.

Israel’s military said on Saturday it had carried out an operation in Lebanon to find remains of airman Ron Arad, but failed to uncover any trace of the navigator missing since 1986.

“As part of IDF activities in Lebanon, IDF special forces operated overnight in an attempt to locate findings related to the missing navigator Ron Arad. No IDF injuries were reported,” the army said in a statement, using the abbreviation for its official name.

“No findings related to him were located at the search site.”

Hezbollah on Saturday told residents of a northern Israeli city close to the border with Lebanon to evacuate and head south.

“Warning. All residents of Kiryat Shmona are asked to evacuate immediately. Head south,” it said in a statement.

Separately, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Lebanese President Joseph Aoun his country would pay a “very heavy price” if it fails to disarm Hezbollah.

Katz said in a statement broadcast on Israeli television if “the choice becomes protecting our civilians and the safety of our soldiers or Lebanon, we will choose to defend our civilians and our soldiers, and the government of Lebanon and Lebanon will pay a very heavy price”.

Hezbollah attacks continue despite ban

Lebanon on Monday banned military activities by Hezbollah, but its fighters continue to launch missiles on Israel.

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, said the Lebanese government is in a difficult position after Hezbollah entered the war and continued its military activities despite the ban.

“Just a few weeks ago, the Lebanese army claimed that it was in operational control over the south of the country,” she said.

“The very fact that Hezbollah fighters are on the front lines in those border villages, engaging in direct combat with the Israeli army, shows that Hezbollah is the most powerful force in that area,” Khodr stressed.

The southern suburbs of Beirut have been under relentless Israeli bombardment for days, forcing the mass exodus of tens of thousands from the densely populated neighbourhood of Dahiyeh.

In the past week, the Israeli military has threatened a large-scale enforced evacuation ⁠of southern Lebanon as well, causing a huge exodus of civilians from these areas.

The death toll from Israeli attacks on Lebanon this week has risen to at least 294 people, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Friday, adding an additional 1,023 people have been wounded and an estimated 95,000 displaced.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said “the consequences of this displacement, at the humanitarian and political level, may well be unprecedented”.

“Our country has been drawn into a devastating war that we did not seek and did not choose,” he added.