At least 12 killed in Israeli strikes on Hezbollah command centres in Lebanon

Tel Aviv [Israel], February 22 (ANI): At least 10 people were reported killed and around 50 others injured in Israeli airstrikes in eastern Lebanon, Times of Israel reported, citing Lebanese authorities, after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had targeted Hezbollah command centres. Two more people were reported killed in a separate strike on Hamas targets in southern Lebanon.
The strikes were among the deadliest since the November 2024 US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
In a statement, the IDF said it struck three Hezbollah command centres belonging to the group's missile force in the Baalbek area of the Beqaa Valley. The military said the strikes eliminated "a large number of operatives" from Hezbollah's missile array who were allegedly working to accelerate force build-up and planning rocket fire and terror attacks against Israel.
Hezbollah later announced the deaths of eight operatives in the strikes, including Hussein Mohammed Yaghi, whom it described as a "commander," indicating a senior position within the group. Hezbollah said the men were killed "while defending Lebanon and its people during a treacherous Israeli attack on the Beqaa region."
Speaking at a protest in Beirut broadcast by Hezbollah's Al-Manar network, senior Hezbollah official Mahmud Qamati termed the strikes a "new massacre" and said the group's only option was "resistance."
"What option do we have left to defend ourselves and our country? What option do we have other than resistance?" Qamati said.
The IDF maintained that Hezbollah's missile forces were actively planning rocket and missile attacks against Israel and that their activities constituted a violation of the ceasefire understandings reached in November 2024, Times of Israel reported.
Meanwhile, Lebanese authorities said an Israeli drone strike targeted the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the southern coastal city of Sidon, killing two people. The IDF said the strike targeted a Hamas command centre where operatives were allegedly gathered to advance attacks against Israeli forces.
Lebanon's health ministry said the two killed were identified by Hamas as members of the group.
According to the IDF, the site had been used in recent months by Hamas operatives to prepare terror activities and training aimed at carrying out attacks against Israeli troops and civilians. The military also accused Hamas of embedding its infrastructure within civilian areas and using residents as human shields, adding that the activity violated the November 2024 ceasefire, Times of Israel reported.
Hamas condemned the strike on Ain al-Hilweh, rejecting Israeli claims and asserting that the targeted site belonged to the camp's Joint Security Force responsible for maintaining security.
Israel has repeatedly said it is acting to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its capabilities following the ceasefire that ended more than a year of hostilities. The truce followed two months of open conflict, including Israeli ground operations in southern Lebanon, aimed at halting near-daily rocket attacks that began on October 8, 2023, a day after Hamas launched its attack on southern Israel, triggering the ongoing war in Gaza. (ANI)