Israeli Airstrike Reportedly Hits Truck in Lebanon Carrying Military Equipment

A picture shows a house damaged in an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on August 26, 2024. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
A picture shows a house damaged in an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on August 26, 2024. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
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Israeli Airstrike Reportedly Hits Truck in Lebanon Carrying Military Equipment

A picture shows a house damaged in an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on August 26, 2024. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
A picture shows a house damaged in an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on August 26, 2024. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)

An Israeli airstrike hit a pickup truck traveling in northeast Lebanon late on Tuesday, two security sources told Reuters, with one of the sources saying it carried military equipment.

The two sources said the strike hit a pickup near Chaat, a remote area of Lebanon near the Syrian border, but that the driver survived.

One of the sources said it was likely the military equipment being transported was a damaged rocket launcher on the way to be repaired.

Two days earlier, Hezbollah and the Israeli military engaged in one of the most intense exchanges of fire between them over the last 10 months amid fears that Israel's war in Gaza would become a wider regional conflict.

Hezbollah fired drones and rockets at Israel early on Sunday to avenge a top military commander killed by Israel last month.

Israel has said its strikes on Lebanon on Sunday destroyed Hezbollah rocket launch sites and prevented a wider attack by the group. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the attack had gone as planned and that Israeli strikes afterwards had damaged some Hezbollah launch sites.



Gaza: Palestinian Health Ministry Says War Death Toll Now at 40,534

A demonstrator brandishing a Palestinian national flag walks past Israeli troops, during confrontations with them following a protest against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the occupied-West Bank, in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near the Jewish settlement of Kedumim, on June 9, 2023. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
A demonstrator brandishing a Palestinian national flag walks past Israeli troops, during confrontations with them following a protest against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the occupied-West Bank, in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near the Jewish settlement of Kedumim, on June 9, 2023. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
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Gaza: Palestinian Health Ministry Says War Death Toll Now at 40,534

A demonstrator brandishing a Palestinian national flag walks past Israeli troops, during confrontations with them following a protest against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the occupied-West Bank, in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near the Jewish settlement of Kedumim, on June 9, 2023. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
A demonstrator brandishing a Palestinian national flag walks past Israeli troops, during confrontations with them following a protest against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the occupied-West Bank, in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near the Jewish settlement of Kedumim, on June 9, 2023. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

Israel launched a large-scale military operation Wednesday in the occupied West Bank, where the army said it killed nine Palestinian fighters, while the nearly 11-month Gaza war showed no sign of abating.

Violence has surged in the West Bank during the Gaza conflict sparked by Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel.

The war has killed more than 40,000 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry. It has also caused widespread destruction in the Palestinian territory, displaced nearly all of its 2.4 million people at least once and triggered a humanitarian crisis.

In the West Bank in the early hours of Wednesday, the Israeli military launched a series of coordinated raids across four cities -- Jenin, Nablus, Tubas and Tulkarem.

The army said it was carrying out a "counter-terrorism operation" involving airstrikes, ground forces and bulldozers.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said the Israeli forces killed at least 10 people, including two Palestinians in Jenin, four in a nearby village and four more in a refugee camp near Tubas. Fifteen others were wounded.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas cut short a visit to Saudi Arabia and headed home to "follow up on the latest developments in light of the Israeli aggression on the northern West Bank," Palestinian official media said.

Foreign Minster Israel Katz said the military was "operating in full force since last night" in a bid to "dismantle Iranian terror infrastructure".

In a post on X, he accused Iran, Israel's main foe in the region, of seeking to "establish an eastern front against Israel" based on the "model" for Gaza and Lebanon, where it backs Hamas and Hezbollah, respectively.

"We must address this threat with the same determination used against terror infrastructures in Gaza, including temporary evacuation of residents and any necessary measures," he said.

"This is a war, and we must win it."