NABATIEH, Lebanon — At least ten Syrian nationals were killed in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon early Saturday morning, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
The attack on Wadi al-Kfour in Nabatieh province is one of the deadliest in Lebanon since the militant Hezbollah group and the Israeli military clashed on October 8, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, sparking the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Hezbollah says it will halt its attacks once a ceasefire is reached in the Gaza Strip.
Among the dead were a woman and her two children, the ministry said. Five others were injured, two of them in critical condition.
An Arabic-speaking Israeli military spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said the attack in the southern province targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot.
Mohammad Shoaib, who runs a slaughterhouse in Wadi al-Kfour, said the affected area was an “industrial and civil zone” that included brick, metal and aluminum factories and a dairy farm.
The uncle of three of those killed in the attack said they were factory workers who were in their accommodation when they were hit. He denied there were any weapons in the facility.
“There was no such thing at all,” said Hussein Shahoud. “There was metal for construction, for buildings, for all kinds of purposes.”
Hezbollah later announced that it had fired a barrage of rockets at the community of Ayelet HaShahar, near Safad in northern Israel, in retaliation for the attack. The statement said all 10 of the victims in Lebanon were civilians. Hezbollah usually publishes obituaries when its members are killed.
The Israeli army said it had identified 55 missiles from Lebanon, some of which landed in open areas. No injuries were reported, but the attacks ignited several fires, it said. Earlier on Saturday, two Israeli soldiers were wounded, one seriously, in an attack from Lebanon in the Misgav Am area.
The Israeli military also said it had killed a Hezbollah commander in a separate attack near the coastal city of Tyre on Saturday. Lebanese state media reported that one person was killed in an attack on a motorcyclist near Tyre. Hezbollah did not immediately provide information on the person’s identity.
The Lebanese government and international governments have been trying for weeks to end months of clashes, with the region on a knife edge since July.
An Israeli attack in southern Beirut last month killed Hezbollah’s top commander. Israel accused him of leading a rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 teenagers. Hours later, an explosion blamed on Israel killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital.
Both Tehran and Hezbollah have threatened retaliation but have not launched any attacks so far as diplomatic efforts and ceasefire talks in the Gaza Strip continue in Qatar.
In the summer of 2006, Hezbollah and Israel fought a six-week war that ended in a draw. Since then, Hezbollah’s military capabilities have improved significantly.
Since October 8, Israeli attacks have killed more than 500 people, most of them Hezbollah fighters and other armed groups, but also around 100 civilians and non-combatants. In northern Israel, 22 soldiers and 24 civilians were killed in attacks from Lebanon. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the tense border.
Also on Saturday, Lebanon’s state-owned energy company, Electricité du Liban, announced that its power plants had exhausted their fuel oil stocks and that electricity production would cease until supplies were restored.
Lebanon has struggled with severe electricity shortages for years, especially since the country entered a protracted financial crisis in 2019. Households and businesses rely largely on generators and increasingly on solar panels for electricity, as the state typically only supplies electricity for a few hours a day. The state’s meager electricity supply relies on fuel oil supplied by Iraq, but problems have arisen between the two countries as Lebanon has not paid for the supply.
___
Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Jack Jeffery in Jerusalem and Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.
