12 killed as Israel says struck Radwan force 'training camps' in Bekaa
Israeli warplanes on Tuesday carried out strikes on the Wadi Faara area in northern Bekaa, one of them targeting a Syrian refugee camp, killing 12 people, including seven Syrians, and wounding eight others, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.
A security source told Reuters that the dead include five Hezbollah fighters.
A Lebanese security source meanwhile told Al-Jazeera that Wadi Faara was targeted by three Israeli airstrikes, with one of them hitting an excavator vehicle.
It was not immediately clear if the Wadi Faara raid was part of the 15 airstrikes that Israel carried out in the morning against alleged Hezbollah training camps in the Bekaa region.
Israel's military said in the morning that it was striking targets belonging to Hezbollah's elite Radwan force in eastern Lebanon, the latest attack despite a ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed group.
"Moments ago, Israeli Air Force fighter jets... began numerous strikes toward Hezbollah terror targets in the area of Bekaa, Lebanon," it said in a statement.
"The military compounds that were struck were used by the Hezbollah terrorist organization for training and exercising terrorists to plan and carry out terrorist attacks against (Israeli) troops and the State of Israel," it added.
The statement said an Israeli military operation in September 2024 had "eliminated" Radwan force commanders in Beirut's southern suburbs and southern Lebanon, but that "since then the unit has been operating to reestablish its capabilities."
"The storage of weapons and the activities of the Hezbollah terrorist organization at these sites constitute a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and constitute a future threat to the State of Israel," it added.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strikes were "a clear message" to Hezbollah and the Lebanese government "which is responsible for upholding the agreement."
"We will strike every terrorist and thwart any threat to the residents of the north and to the State of Israel -- and we will respond with maximum force against any attempt at rebuilding," he said in a statement from his ministry.
Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite a November ceasefire that sought to end over a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, including two months of all-out war that left the group severely weakened.
Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, leaving the Lebanese Army and United Nations peacekeepers as the only armed parties in the region.
Israel was required to fully withdraw its troops from the country but has kept them in five places it deems strategic.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
MTV Lebanon
7 minutes ago
- MTV Lebanon
16 Jul 2025 18:12 PM Aoun condemns Israeli attacks on Syria
President of the Republic, General Joseph Aoun, strongly condemned "the repeated Israeli attacks on Syrian territory, which today reached the capital, Damascus, and government headquarters," considering these attacks "a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of a sister Arab state, international law, and the United Nations Charter." President Aoun stressed that "the continuation of such attacks exposes the security and stability of the region to further tension and escalation," expressing "Lebanon's full solidarity with the Syrian Arab Republic, its people and its state." The President of the Republic renewed his "call on the international community to assume its responsibilities and exert pressure by all means and in all forums to halt these repeated attacks and respect Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity." The Head of State stressed "Lebanon's commitment to Syria's unity, civil peace, and the safety of its land and people of all its segments."
Nahar Net
10 minutes ago
- Nahar Net
US reportedly urges timetable and official Hezbollah declaration on arms
by Naharnet Newsdesk 6 hours The U.S. response to the latest Lebanese paper requested some clarifications as to 'timetables and the executive mechanisms' for resolving the issue of Hezbollah's weapons, media reports said. Washington also asked for 'a clear stance from Hezbollah that it agrees to this arms monopolization mechanism,' as it welcomed 'a host of articles contained in the Lebanese response,' the reports said. Sources informed on the Lebanese response have told MTV that the Lebanese paper 'included a comprehensive agreement that entire Lebanon will commit to, amid optimism that U.S. envoy Tom Barrack will carry a positive response from the Israeli side.'
Nahar Net
10 minutes ago
- Nahar Net
MPs discuss Hezbollah arms, Israeli violations, and US intervention in plenary session
by Naharnet Newsdesk 6 hours Lawmakers convened Wednesday for the second day in Parliament to debate the government's policies. During the session, MPs mainly discussed Hezbollah's arms and Israeli violations and renewed confidence in the Lebanese government. The no-confidence vote was proposed by Free Patriotic chief Jebran Bassil. Sixty-nine MPs gave a vote of confidence to the government, nine FPM MPs voted against it, and four MPs abstained. Many MPs on Tuesday and Wednesday called for Hezbollah's disarmament while Hezbollah MP Ibrahim al-Moussawi said "We all know that the army is not allowed to have defensive weapons to protect the country against the enemy." - Amal MP says gov. not doing enough to protect Lebanese - Amal MP Ali Hassan Khalil and Hezbollah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan criticized the government for not doing enough to prevent the Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement reached in late November. "We haven't felt that the government is working responsibly and seriously to prevent the collapse of the ceasefire agreement," Khalil said, adding that "the open discussion about arms must continue, but responsibly" and that the government must also discuss the reconstruction of war-hit regions. Khalil said in Hezbollah's defense that "the resistance was never an independent project but rather a reaction that emerged when the national defense system failed to protect sovereignty, especially in the south." - Hezbollah disarmament - Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan criticized Tuesday the government's lack of progress in restoring the state's authority and disarming Hezbollah, while Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Jebran Bassil said he supports Hezbollah's disarmament but not by force. MP Fouad Makhzoumi called for Hezbollah's disarmament and proposed to discuss it in a cabinet session and independent MP Neemat Frem said Hezbollah's arms must not be destroyed or given to Israel, but handed over to the Lebanese army. - US intervention - Hajj Hassan for his part accused the U.S. of intervening in Lebanese affairs. He said that some Lebanese parties are serving the American and Israeli narratives and failing to see the Israeli threats. MP Oussama Saad also said the American mediators are biased to Israel and pressuring Lebanon. "We will not argue about the handover of weapons to the state," but "the Israeli occupation cannot be ignored." On Tuesday, MP Jamil al-Sayyed criticized U.S. envoys Amos Hochstein, Morgan Ortagus, and Tom Barrack, who he said "threatened Lebanon with civil war". "It's as if we've become an experimental field for these envoys." - No foreign dictations - Prime Minister Nawaf Salam denied any foreign dictations and vowed to continue working on extending the state's authority north and south of the Litani river and to pressure Israel to withdraw from Lebanese territories and stop its aggressions.
