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Israeli drone (symbolic image)
Photo: Jim Hollander / UPI Photo / IMAGO
Israel's air force struck again early Sunday morning against Hezbollah positions in eastern Lebanon. The attacks were a “retaliatory measure” for the shooting down of an Israeli drone, the Israeli army said on the Telegram online service. According to the Israeli army, its fighter jets attacked "a military complex and three other terrorist facilities belonging to Hezbollah's air defense network." One of the attacks would have targeted a Hezbollah militia training camp in the village of Janta near the Syrian border, and another in the village of Safri near Baalbek. The area is a stronghold of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia
Israel's morning attacks were also confirmed by Hezbollah circles. The AFP news agency learned from a source close to Hezbollah that the Israeli attacks "targeted two areas in the Bekaa Valley." Janta is a mountainous region near the border with Syria, Safri is in the center of the Bekaa Valley. According to the Lebanese Civil Defense Authority, there were no deaths or injuries in the Israeli attacks.
Since the war between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas began on October 7th, there have been almost daily battles between Israeli soldiers and fighters from the Shiite Hezbollah militia, which is allied with Hamas, in the border area between Israel and Lebanon. But Janta and Safri are far from the Israeli border.
On Saturday, Hezbollah said it had shot down an Israeli Hermes 450 drone over Lebanese territory. The Israeli army confirmed this. The Israeli army had already attacked targets in the Bekaa Valley in February after Hezbollah shot down an Israeli drone.
The clashes on the Israeli-Lebanese border have killed at least 349 people, most of them Hezbollah fighters, according to an AFP count. But at least 68 civilians also died.
AFP/Reuters/löw