Israeli airstrike kills at least 10 in southern Lebanon in one of deadliest incidents since Oct. 7

CNN
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An Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 people – all Syrians – in Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Health Ministry said in a statement on Saturday morning.

The ministry said that among the dead were a woman and her two children.

The ministry added that the raid also resulted in the injury of at least five people, two of whom are in critical condition. It explained that the injured are three Syrians, a Sudanese and a Lebanese. Two of the Syrians are in critical condition and are undergoing surgery in a nearby hospital.

The Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility in the Nabatieh area overnight.

The death toll from the attack is one of the highest in southern Lebanon since Israel launched its war on Gaza following Hamas attacks on October 7 that killed about 1,200 people.

Hezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged fire across the border almost daily since Israel launched its war on the Strip, which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in 10 months.

Tensions between Lebanon and Israel escalated late last month when an Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese capital Beirut killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fouad Shukr. The following day, Israel is widely believed to have assassinated Hamas’s political leader in Tehran. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.

This has raised speculation about imminent retaliatory attacks by Hezbollah and Iran on Israel. Two sources familiar with the intelligence told CNN earlier this month that Hezbollah increasingly appears to be willing to strike Israel regardless of what Iran might do.

Given Lebanon’s proximity to Israel as its immediate neighbor to the north, Hezbollah could act with little or no warning, according to one source — which is not the case with Iran.

Talks on a truce and prisoners’ issue ended on Friday and are set to resume next week. International mediators have presented a new proposal aimed at bridging the remaining gaps in the dispute between Israel and Gaza.