At least 10 people were killed and five wounded in an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanon city of Nabatieh early Saturday, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The Israel Defense Forces said it targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot.
The Lebanese ministry said all the dead were Syrian nationals and included a woman and her two children. Five others were wounded, of whom two were in critical condition.
The strike on Wadi al-Kfour in Nabatieh province was among the deadliest in Lebanon since the Hezbollah terror group started launching attacks on October 8, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, sparking Israeli responses.
Mohammad Shoaib, who runs a slaughterhouse in Wadi al-Kfour said the area struck was an “industrial and civilian area,” that contained factories producing bricks, metal, and aluminum, as well as a dairy farm.
Hezbollah has not immediately commented on the strikes.
The IDF confirmed carrying out the airstrike near Nabatieh overnight, saying it targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot.
Additionally, the IDF says fighter jets struck buildings used by Hezbollah in Hanine and Maroun al-Ras, also in southern Lebanon.
It publishes footage of the latter strikes.
Following the deadly strike in Nabatieh, the Upper Galilee Regional Council told residents of communities near the border with Lebanon to restrict their movements and remain near bomb shelters.
The instructions were given to residents who have not yet evacuated from Hulata, Yesud HaMa’ala, Sde Eliezer, Ayelet Hashachar, Gadot, Mishmar HaYarden, and Machanayim.
The strike came after negotiations in Doha for a ceasefire-hostage deal between Israel and Hamas paused on Friday, with negotiators due to meet again next week.
Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis since October 8, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
Tensions have soared in the region in recent weeks after a Hezbollah rocket strike killed 12 children and teens in the Golan Heights last month. Israel responded with the killing of Hezbollah’s top commander, Fuad Shukr, in the suburbs of Beirut on July 30.
Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel, as has Iran for the assassination of Hamas politburo leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran a few hours after Shukr was killed, stirring fears of an escalation to all-out war.
On Friday evening, meanwhile, the IDF said that fighter jets struck buildings used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Maroun al-Ras and Ayta ash-Shab.
The IDF also said that an interceptor missile was fired at a suspected drone that entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon earlier on Friday evening, setting off sirens in the Galilee Panhandle, without noting if the target was shot down. No injuries were reported in the incident.
Separately, the IDF said that a rocket fired from Lebanon struck an open area near the border community of Netu’a, also causing no injuries.
A short while earlier, two suspected drones were launched from Lebanon at northern Israel, setting off sirens in the Golan Heights. One of the suspected drones was shot down by air defenses, and the second struck near the northern community of Kela, the IDF said.
A fire was also sparked in the area as a result of falling shrapnel following the interception.
There were no injuries in that attack.
The skirmishes on the northern border since October 8 have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 18 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 411 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 71 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.