Clashes have erupted as Israeli forces attempted a landing operation along the Lebanese-Syrian border, and the armed group Hezbollah said its fighters were involved, according to the Lebanese state National News Agency (NNA), as this fierce front in the broader regional war launched by the United States and Israel boils over.
The Lebanese Health Ministry says at least 16 people were killed and 35 wounded in Israeli airstrikes on the town of Nabi Chit in the eastern Bekaa Valley.
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There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has launched numerous deadly attacks and sent ground troops into southern Lebanon, but not further north in the east, since the Iran-aligned Lebanese group Hezbollah fired missiles into Israel on Monday to avenge the assassination of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by joining the war.
This latest reported incursion would be the deepest incursion by Israeli forces into Lebanon since special unit troops detained Hezbollah operative Imad Amhaz in the northern city of Batroun in November 2024.
The ANN said: “Clashes are taking place in the eastern mountain range along the Lebanese-Syrian border… to repel Israeli landing attempts.”
‘Infiltration from the Syrian leadership’
The agency indicated that the location of the raid was Nabi Chit, in the eastern district of Baalbek, where Hezbollah dominates.
Hezbollah said in a statement that its fighters had “observed the infiltration of four Israeli enemy army helicopters from the direction of Syria.”
After landing, the advancing troops “were attacked by a group” of Hezbollah fighters as they arrived at the Nabi Chit cemetery, Hezbollah said, highlighting the use of light and medium weapons.
“The clash intensified after the enemy force was exposed,” he added, saying Israeli troops launched intense attacks and began evacuating.
A separate statement said Hezbollah fighters had fired rockets as Israeli forces retreated.
The fighters “attacked the evacuation zone on the outskirts of the city of Nabi Chit with rocket fire,” the group said.
Images shared on social media showed waves of gunshots in the air.
Nabi Chit was targeted by at least 13 Israeli airstrikes on Friday, according to ANN, and the Lebanese Health Ministry reported that at least nine people were killed.
Lebanon on Monday banned Hezbollah’s military activities, but its fighters continue to launch missiles at Israel.
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, says the Lebanese government is in a difficult position after Hezbollah entered the war and continued its military activities despite the ban.
“Just a few weeks ago, the Lebanese army claimed that it had operational control over the south of the country,” he said.
“The mere fact that Hezbollah fighters are on the front lines in those border villages, engaging in direct combat with the Israeli army, shows that Hezbollah is the most powerful force in that area,” Khodr emphasized.
Beirut’s southern suburbs have been under relentless Israeli shelling for days, forcing a mass exodus of tens of thousands of people from the densely populated neighborhood of Dahiyeh.
Last week, the Israeli military threatened to order a large-scale forced evacuation for southern Lebanon as well, causing a huge exodus of civilians from those areas.
The death toll from Israeli attacks on Lebanon this week has risen to at least 217 people, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Friday, adding that another 798 people have been injured and an estimated 95,000 have been displaced.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that “the consequences of this displacement, on a humanitarian and political level, could be unprecedented.
“Our country has been dragged into a devastating war that we did not seek or choose,” he added.
