BEIRUT: Lebanon said Israeli strikes on the country’s east and south killed 12 people on Friday, with Israel’s army saying it targeted Hezbollah and its Palestinian ally Hamas.

A statement from Hezbollah in the eastern Bekaa Valley said a “commander” from the group had been killed in the raids there.

Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, usually saying it is targeting the group but occasionally also Hamas militants.

“Israeli enemy strikes” on several locations in the Bekaa Valley “killed 10 people and wounded 24”, Lebanon’s health ministry said, adding that three children were among the wounded.

Hezbollah vows resistance after Israeli attacks

The state-run National News Agency had earlier reported six dead and 25 wounded after “heavy strikes” hit in the region. Israel’s army said in a statement that it hit “Hezbollah command centres”.

The raids came hours after an Israeli strike on the country’s largest Palestinian refugee camp killed two people, according to the health ministry, with Israel’s army saying it had targeted Hamas.

The NNA said “an Israeli drone” targeted a neighbourhood of the Ain al-Helweh camp, which is located on the outskirts of the southern city of Sidon.

A correspondent saw smoke rising from a building in the densely populated camp as ambulances headed to the scene.

Hamas rejects allegations

Hamas in a statement condemned the attack, which it said led to “civilian” casualties.

It rejected Israel’s allegations as “flimsy pretexts”, saying the targeted building “belongs to the joint security force charged with maintaining security and stability in the camp”.

A raid on Ain al-Helweh last November that Israel said targeted a Hamas training compound killed 13 people. The UN rights office had said 11 children were killed in that strike, while Hamas denied it had military installations in Palestinian camps in Lebanon.

In October 2023, Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israel in support of Hamas at the outset of the Gaza conflict, triggering hostilities that culminated in two months of all-out war between Israel and the group.

Lebanon’s government last year committed to disarming Hezbollah and the army said last month that it had completed the first phase of the plan, covering the area near the Israeli border.

Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming, has criticised the army’s progress as insufficient.

Hezbollah vows resistance

Hezbollah warned on Saturday that it would have no choice but to fight on after an Israeli strike on targets in Lebanon killed eight of its operatives.

“What happened yesterday in the Bekaa is a new massacre and a new aggression,” Hezbollah official Mahmud Qamati said, in a speech broadcast by the Al-Manar network.

“What option do we have left to defend ourselves and our country? What option do we have other than resistance? We no longer have any option.” Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun also condemned the attacks, which came just days after the government said the army will start implementing the second phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah in the south of the country.

Hezbollah lawmaker Rami Abu Hamdan said the group “will not accept the authorities acting as mere political analysts, dismissing these as Israeli strikes we have grown accustomed to before every meeting of the committee”.

He called on Beirut to “suspend the committee’s meetings until the enemy ceases its attacks”.

The strikes came as tensions were also building between the United States and Iran, with US President Donald Trump threatening military action over the republic’s nuclear programme.

Mass funeral

In Lebanon’s eastern city of Baalbek, a mass funeral was held for commander Hussein Mohammad Yaghi and one of the fighters, with hundreds of people gathered, waving Hezbollah flags and chanting support.

A Hezbollah official said all eight members of the group were attending a meeting in the eastern Bekaa region when a strike killed them.

The Israeli military said it had targeted “several terrorists of Hezbollah’s missile array in three different command centres in the Baalbek area”.

A correspondent in eastern Lebanon saw a bulldozer clearing debris following the strike on Bednayel, and a heavily damaged building between Riyak and Ali al-Nahri, where the Hezbollah official said the members were meeting.

The raids were against targets in residential areas, according to the correspondent.

They came hours after an Israeli strike on the country’s largest Palestinian refugee camp in the south killed two people, according to the health ministry, with Israel’s army saying it had targeted Hamas.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2026