Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb

An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has said previous strikes on Lebanese troops were accidental and that they are not a target of its campaign against Hezbollah.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.

The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Hezbollah has continued to fire regular barrages into Israel, forcing people to race for shelters and occasionally killing or wounding them.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets into northern and central Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating two people in the central city of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. The first responders said they also treated two women in their 50s who were wounded in northern Israel.

It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or interceptors.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.



Lebanon, France Postpone Conference to Support Lebanese Army

01 March 2026, Lebanon, Qliyaa: Smoke trails left by interceptor missiles launched from Israeli air defense systems to counter Iranian missiles is seen over the Israeli settlement of Metula as seen from the Lebanese southern border village Qliyaa.(dpa)
01 March 2026, Lebanon, Qliyaa: Smoke trails left by interceptor missiles launched from Israeli air defense systems to counter Iranian missiles is seen over the Israeli settlement of Metula as seen from the Lebanese southern border village Qliyaa.(dpa)
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Lebanon, France Postpone Conference to Support Lebanese Army

01 March 2026, Lebanon, Qliyaa: Smoke trails left by interceptor missiles launched from Israeli air defense systems to counter Iranian missiles is seen over the Israeli settlement of Metula as seen from the Lebanese southern border village Qliyaa.(dpa)
01 March 2026, Lebanon, Qliyaa: Smoke trails left by interceptor missiles launched from Israeli air defense systems to counter Iranian missiles is seen over the Israeli settlement of Metula as seen from the Lebanese southern border village Qliyaa.(dpa)

Lebanon and France postponed on Sunday an upcoming conference to support the Lebanese army and security forces, a joint statement by both countries' presidencies said, citing unfavorable conditions in the region.

The statement said Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron "decided to postpone until April the conference... which was to be held on March 5 in Paris" after discussing "the latest developments affecting the security of the entire region".

"The conditions were not met to hold the meeting on the scheduled date."

The decision comes after the United States and Israel began strikes against Iran on Saturday, sparking swift retaliation from Tehran.

Lebanon, which is still reeling from a 2024 war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah, fears the group may intervene in the conflict.

The conference is meant to support the military, whose mission is to disarm Hezbollah after Beirut committed to doing so last year.

Aoun and Macron stressed that "the gravity of the regional situation reinforces the need to preserve the stability of Lebanon, to support its legitimate institutions and to guarantee the full restoration of its sovereignty".


Lebanon's Hezbollah Vows to 'Confront Aggression' of US, Israel

29 July 2024, Iran, Tehran: Then Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem is pictured during a meeting in Tehran. (Iranian Presidency/dpa)
29 July 2024, Iran, Tehran: Then Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem is pictured during a meeting in Tehran. (Iranian Presidency/dpa)
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Lebanon's Hezbollah Vows to 'Confront Aggression' of US, Israel

29 July 2024, Iran, Tehran: Then Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem is pictured during a meeting in Tehran. (Iranian Presidency/dpa)
29 July 2024, Iran, Tehran: Then Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem is pictured during a meeting in Tehran. (Iranian Presidency/dpa)

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah vowed Sunday to confront the United States and Israel over their strikes on the group's key backer Iran.

"We will undertake our duty of confronting the aggression," Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said in a statement, adding that his movement would not leave "the field of honor and resistance".

The Lebanese group has so far not taken action since the US and Israel began striking Iran on Saturday.

It is nonetheless organizing a gathering on Sunday afternoon in its stronghold in Beirut's southern suburb in a show of support for its ally Iran.

Hezbollah also called on mosques to recite the Koran and organize mourning ceremonies to mark the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, both in the Beirut suburb and other areas of Lebanon where the group wields influence.

Khamenei was killed on Saturday as the United States and Israel jointly launched a barrage of ongoing strikes on the Iranian republic.

Having emerged heavily battered from its own war with Israel, Hezbollah did not intervene on behalf of Iran during its 12-day war with Israel last June.

Qassem, who succeeded Hassan Nasrallah as the group's chief following his death in an Israeli strike in September 2024, on Sunday said the assassination of Khamenei and other Iranian officials was "the height of crime".

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Saturday rejected the prospect of being dragged into war following the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.


Hamas Mourns Iran’s Khamenei, Condemns ‘Heinous’ US-Israel Attack

In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, third right, leads a prayer over the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard who were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on Wednesday, during their funeral ceremony at the Tehran University campus, in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 1, 2024. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, third right, leads a prayer over the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard who were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on Wednesday, during their funeral ceremony at the Tehran University campus, in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 1, 2024. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)
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Hamas Mourns Iran’s Khamenei, Condemns ‘Heinous’ US-Israel Attack

In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, third right, leads a prayer over the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard who were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on Wednesday, during their funeral ceremony at the Tehran University campus, in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 1, 2024. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, third right, leads a prayer over the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard who were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on Wednesday, during their funeral ceremony at the Tehran University campus, in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 1, 2024. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)

Hamas on Sunday mourned Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, a firm supporter of the Palestinian movement, after his death in what it described as a "heinous" US-Israeli attack. 

"We in Hamas mourn the passing of Ali Khamenei. He provided all forms of political, diplomatic and military support to our people, our cause, and our resistance," it said in a statement. 

"The US and the fascist occupation government bear full responsibility for this blatant aggression and heinous crime against the sovereignty of Iran, as well as for its serious repercussions on the security and stability of the region." 

Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, described Khamenei as the "main supporter of the Resistance Axis and its mujahideen". 

"All the support the Islamic Republic has provided over decades to our people and our resistance ... was delivered by his direct decision and under his full supervision," the Brigades said in a separate statement. 

"This substantial support has been a key factor in the development of the resistance and its tactics, culminating in the remarkable achievements" during the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the group added. 

Armed group Islamic Jihad, which along with Hamas and its armed wing fought a war against Israel in Gaza for two years, said the killing of Khamenei was a "war crime" by the US and Israel in a "treacherous and malicious attack".