BEIRUT: Lebanon said Israeli strikes near the Syrian border and in the country’s south killed three people on Thursday, as Israel said it targeted a member of Iran’s elite Quds Force and a Hezbollah operative.

Despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon and has maintained troops in five areas it deems strategic.

“An Israeli enemy strike today on a vehicle in the town of Hawsh al-Sayyed Ali in the Hermel district killed two people,” the health ministry said, referring to a location in northeast Lebanon near the Syrian border.

It later reported one person was killed in an Israeli strike in Majdal Selm, in the country’s south.

Separately the Israeli military said it killed Hussein Mahmud Marshad al-Jawhari, “a key fighter in the operational unit of the Quds Force”, the foreign operations arm of the Revolutionary Guards.

It said he “was involved in terror activities, directed by Iran, against the state of Israel and its security forces” from Lebanon and Syria.

The Israeli military also said it killed “a Hezbollah terrorist” in an area near Majdal Selm.

Under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming Hezbollah, starting with the south.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2025