Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
More than 20 people, including civilians, were killed or wounded over the night of August 20 and 21 when a series of Israeli strikes hit Lebanon.
In two separate statements, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said that its fighter jets struck Hezbollah weapon depots in the Beqaa Valley in eastern Lebanon. A site used by Hezbollah air defense units was also struck in the same area, according to the military.
Other strikes hit a rocket launcher in the town of Abu Shash, a Hezbollah fighter in the Hamoul area; and buildings used by the group in the towns of Ayta ash-Shab, Ramyeh and Tallouseh, the IDF said. All of these towns are located in southern Lebanon, The military also said that it targeted another fighter of Hezbollah in the town of Beit Lif, also in southern Lebanon.
Lebanese media reported that a civilian was killed and at least 20 others were killed as a result of Israeli strikes on Beqaa. It also confirmed that a man was killed in Beit Lif, without confirming if he was a member of Hezbollah. In addition, a Syrian national was reportedly killed in a strike that hit Wazzani.
From its side, Hezbollah mourned five of its fighters in separate statements, but didn’t clarify where or how exactly they were killed.
In response to the Israeli strikes, Hezbollah attacked on August 21 morning the border site of Hadab Yaron with a suicide drone and launched a large barrage of dozens of rockets at the Tsnobar logistical base in the Israeli-based occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
The IDF said that some 50 rockets were launched from Lebanon at the Golan, with some intercepted by its air defenses. Hebrew media reported material damage in the settlement of Katzrin and said that a man was wounded.
Hezbollah and its allies began launching near-daily attacks against the IDF in support of the Hamas Movement and other armed factions in the Gaza Strip after the outbreak of the Israeli war on the Palestinian enclave last October.
The latest deadly wave of Israeli strikes on Lebanon will likely push the group and its allies to escalate its attacks against the IDF.
So far, the confrontation has resulted in 26 civilian deaths in Israel and the occupied Golan as well as the deaths of at least 19 soldiers and security officers. On the Lebanese side, more than 700 people have been killed, including 400 fighters of Hezbollah and over 130 civilians.
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