Israel’s army carried out an operation that dropped troops into a town in eastern Lebanon overnight, residents and Lebanese state media said Saturday, while Israeli strikes in the area left more than a dozen people dead.
Lebanon plunged further into the conflict plaguing the Middle East on Monday (2), when Hezbollah, backed by Iran, launched rockets and drones against Israel, which is in the south, east and near the capital Beirut.
Overnight, Israeli helicopters dropped troops near the town of Nabi Chit in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, Lebanese state media and residents said.
Residents and Hezbollah fighters shot at the troops as they moved on foot, according to reports.
Israeli troops withdrew and left the area by helicopter as Israeli strikes hit Nabi Chit and neighboring towns, state media and residents said. The Israeli army did not immediately respond to Reuters’ questions about what happened.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Health reported that 16 people died in Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours in Nabi Chit.
A spokesman told Reuters that the death toll includes people hit during Friday’s attacks as well as during intense overnight shelling, and that the number is expected to rise.
Two security sources told Reuters that three army soldiers were among the dead.
The Israeli strikes and displacement orders have mobilized around 300,000 people, only a third of whom are living in government shelters.
“One Hellish Night”
Shawki al-Masri, who lives in a town near Nabi Chit, described the overnight bombing as “a hellish night”.
“We heard the helicopters flying over our house all night – they were so low we thought they were going to land on us,” he told Reuters.
“The city’s residents woke up and started shooting at them, then the warplanes started bombing. It was a very violent night and it only calmed down with the sunrise,” he said.
In a statement released overnight, Hezbollah claimed to have fired on Israeli troops who had been landed near Nabi Chit by four Israeli helicopters. The group said Israeli troops had withdrawn.
While Israeli forces carry out ground operations in southern Lebanon, pushing deeper into a strip of border villages, air operations are rare.
In a war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2024, Israeli naval forces kidnapped a man in a Lebanese coastal town.
The United Nations warned on Saturday that the conflict is likely to worsen further and that negotiations between Israel and Lebanon must be conducted urgently to put an end to hostilities.
The UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said in a statement that “it is clear that ongoing military actions will not bring lasting victory to anyone.”
“On the contrary, they will only worsen instability and inflict even more suffering,” she said.
