Israeli fighter jets strike Hezbollah compound deep in Lebanon

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli warplanes struck a Hezbollah compound deep in Lebanon on Tuesday following an attack by the Lebanese group on a sensitive air traffic control base in northern Israel, the military said.

The Israeli airstrike, near the northeastern town of Zboud, marked the deepest strike in Lebanon since the outbreak of cross-border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah last October.

An army statement said the strike targeted “a military compound used by Hezbollah’s aerial unit” near Zboud in the Baalbek District.

The Hezbollah compound included several buildings and a landing pad for drones, the army said.

Israeli fighter jets also struck a building and other infrastructure used by Hezbollah in the border towns of Ayta ash-Shab and Kafr Kila, and an observation post in Maroun al-Ras in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah said early Tuesday that it had struck the Mount Meron air traffic control base in northern Israel in response to Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon.

Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchange of weapons fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.

The escalation comes amid an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 32,400 Palestinians following a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

At least 300 people are estimated to have been killed in Lebanon, including 240 Hezbollah fighters, since the clashes erupted last October. Nearly 20 Israelis have been killed, according to Israeli figures.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul