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.



Families Take Shelter in Schools as Lebanon’s Government Calls Hezbollah’s Strike on Israel Illegal

A displaced family who fled Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon sits at a school turned into a shelter, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A displaced family who fled Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon sits at a school turned into a shelter, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Families Take Shelter in Schools as Lebanon’s Government Calls Hezbollah’s Strike on Israel Illegal

A displaced family who fled Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon sits at a school turned into a shelter, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A displaced family who fled Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon sits at a school turned into a shelter, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Lebanese civilians fled from the country's south and Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday, seeking refuge in schools in Lebanon's capital following a new and deadly escalation between Israel and the Iran-allied Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported at least 31 people were killed and 149 wounded in overnight strikes in the Beirut suburbs and southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese government later Monday slammed Hezbollah's decision to enter Iran's war with Israel and the United States, calling the militant group's actions illegal and demanding it hand over its weapons.

Highways were jammed overnight and into Monday with people fleeing after what was Israel's deadliest barrage on Lebanon in more than a year, striking hours after Hezbollah fired missiles across the border for the first time in more than a year.

Ali Hamdan was stuck in gridlock on the road between his village in southern Lebanon, Deir al-Zahrani, and the port city of Sidon. What should have been a half-hour’s drive had taken seven hours, he said.

“I don’t know how long it will take us to reach Beirut," he said. "I’m headed toward Beirut, but I don’t know where yet. We don’t have a place to stay.”

At a public school in Beirut, hastily converted into a temporary shelter, families arrived carrying mattresses, plastic bags, and bundles of clothing. Other families sat on sidewalks beside their belongings, some men smoking as they waited for space to open inside.

Volunteers moved through the crowd, registering names as families filled classrooms and gathered in the school courtyard.

Hussein Abu Ali, who fled a southern Beirut suburb with his wife and children, described the moment the strikes hit.

“My son began shaking and crying," he said. "Where are you supposed to go? I stepped outside, then back in because I was afraid of shooting in the air. I gathered my children and went down to the street.”

Nadia Al‑Salman, displaced from the southern town of Majdal Zoun, said they left their homes "not out of fear or terror of the United States, but to fulfill our religious and legal duty to protect ourselves.”

During the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in 2024, at one point, more than a million people were displaced in Lebanon. Many have been unable to return to their homes in the south, where villages along the border remain in ruins.

Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel a day after the militant Palestinian group Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, triggering the war in Gaza. After months of low-level fighting, the conflict escalated into a full-scale war in September 2024 before a US brokered ceasefire nominally halted the fighting two months later.

Since that ceasefire, Israel has continued to launch near-daily strikes in Lebanon, saying it aims to stop Hezbollah from rebuilding.

Monday’s escalation also marked the first time in more than a year that Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for firing into Israel. Hezbollah said in a statement that the strikes were carried out in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and for “repeated Israeli aggressions,” describing it as “a legitimate defensive response."

But Lebanon’s government said it considers Hezbollah’s military activities illegal and that the group should hand over its weapons. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said after an emergency Cabinet meeting Monday that only the state should decide on matters of war and peace.

He added that Hezbollah’s military activities were banned going forward and called on security agencies to prevent the firing of missiles or drones from Lebanon and detain those behind the launch. It was the harshest stance the Lebanese government has taken yet toward Hezbollah, which also has a political party with a parliamentary bloc in addition to its armed militants.

Salam also called on the international community to work on getting a “clear and final commitment” from Israel to stop its strikes on Lebanon.

The Israeli military overnight issued a warning for residents of around 50 communities across southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate. Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Israel is keeping “all options on the table,” including a potential ground invasion of Lebanon and threatened that “Hezbollah will pay a very heavy price."

He said Israel has called up more than 100,000 reservists since the war with Iran began on Saturday.


US Mission in Iraq Tells Nationals, Personnel to Shelter in Place

The US embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. (Reuters file)
The US embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. (Reuters file)
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US Mission in Iraq Tells Nationals, Personnel to Shelter in Place

The US embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. (Reuters file)
The US embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. (Reuters file)

The US embassy in Baghdad said Monday it directed US nationals and mission personnel to shelter in place, warning of threats posed by Iran-backed groups.

"The US Mission in Iraq advises US citizens to exercise increased caution, maintain a low profile, and shelter in place until further notice," the embassy said, adding that it had directed all staff to do the same.

The embassy warned that "Iran-aligned terrorist militias continue to pose a significant threat to public safety".


Israeli Defense Minister Says Lebanon's Hezbollah Chief is Now 'Target for Elimination'

Supporters watch a televised speech by Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem during a rally to show their solidarity with Iran, in the southern suburb of Beirut on January 26, 2026. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP)
Supporters watch a televised speech by Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem during a rally to show their solidarity with Iran, in the southern suburb of Beirut on January 26, 2026. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP)
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Israeli Defense Minister Says Lebanon's Hezbollah Chief is Now 'Target for Elimination'

Supporters watch a televised speech by Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem during a rally to show their solidarity with Iran, in the southern suburb of Beirut on January 26, 2026. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP)
Supporters watch a televised speech by Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem during a rally to show their solidarity with Iran, in the southern suburb of Beirut on January 26, 2026. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP)

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said ‌on ‌Monday that ‌Hezbollah ⁠chief Naim Qassem ⁠was now a "target for ⁠elimination", after ‌the ‌Iran-aligned militant group ‌fired ‌at Israel in ‌retaliation for the killing ⁠of ⁠Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

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

Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed at least 31 people on Monday, authorities said, following rocket fire from Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah after the killing of Khamenei.

Israel's military vowed to intensify its attacks on the country and make Hezbollah pay a "heavy price" after launching several strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs and south Lebanon, areas where Hezbollah holds sway.

Lebanese authorities, who have been trying to spare the country from any repercussions of the US-Israeli attack on Iran, said Hezbollah's rocket fire gave Israel "excuses" to ramp up its attacks.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said attacks from the country's territory risked drawing the country into regional conflict.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, whose government has pushed for Hezbollah's disarmament, called Monday's rocket fire "irresponsible".

He vowed to "stop the perpetrators and protect the Lebanese people".