Israeli Jets Bomb Lebanon

Lebanese security officials say Israel has targeted eastern Lebanon for the first time since the war on Gaza began in October last year.

At least two people were killed on Monday after Israeli military planes carried out three air strikes on the outskirts of Buday village near Baalbek, a Hezbollah stronghold in the Bekaa Valley about 100km (62 miles) from the Israel-Lebanon border.

The attacks targeted a convoy of trucks, with the Israeli military saying it struck “Hezbollah terror targets deep inside Lebanon”.

Confirming the strikes, Israel’s army said its jets targeted sites used by Hezbollah for its aerial defence system, adding that they came “in response to the launch of a surface-to-air missile” that downed an Israeli drone earlier on Monday in southern Lebanon, where most Israeli attacks had happened so far.

A Hezbollah official told the Reuters news agency the Israeli strikes hit a warehouse, killing two people. The warehouse is part of Hezbollah’s Sajjad Project that sells food products to people in its stronghold at prices lower than the market.

A video posted by Lebanese media outlets showed a plume of smoke rising from the vicinity of the Aadous plain in Buday, west of the city of Baalbek.