Israeli strikes across Lebanon kill 11 in Mashghara as Netanyahu vows to intensify campaign
Israel has carried out a heavy wave of strikes across southern and eastern Lebanon, including the Bekaa Valley village of Mashghara, where 11 people were killed, according to Lebanon's health ministry. The attacks came after the Israeli prime minister said the military would step up its action against Hezbollah. The strikes were part of one of the heaviest nights of bombardment since a US-brokered ceasefire began in mid-April.
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The Israeli military said it hit more than 100 Hezbollah infrastructure sites and fighters during the operation. It said the targets included locations where it identified what it described as terrorist activity. Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement that he had instructed the military to "press the pedal even harder" in response to Hezbollah attacks, including those involving fibre-optic drones that can evade Israeli defences.
The health ministry said the dead in Mashghara included two children, and the Lebanese state news agency said several homes in the village were destroyed. The wider wave of strikes also hit other parts of southern Lebanon, with one man and his wife killed in Arab Salim and two more people killed in Kauthariyet El Rez, according to official Lebanese reporting. The bombardment prompted scenes of panic in Beirut's southern suburbs, where residents were seen leaving the area after Netanyahu's remarks.
The latest escalation matters because it comes amid repeated violations of the ceasefire and continued cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah. Israeli air and artillery strikes have continued daily, especially in southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah has kept launching rockets and drones at communities in northern Israel and at Israeli troops occupying parts of southern Lebanon. The fighting has also complicated efforts to end the wider conflict, with the supplied material saying the ceasefire is threatening to derail ongoing talks involving the US, Israel and Iran.
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Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group based in Lebanon, has said it will continue fighting until Israel stops its airstrikes and withdraws its forces. Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah positions and infrastructure across Lebanon, including in the east where Mashghara is located in the Bekaa Valley. The village has now become one of the latest flashpoints in a conflict that has spread beyond the border areas and into deeper parts of Lebanese territory.
What remains unclear is the full extent of damage in Mashghara and whether the death toll could rise further. It is also not clear how long the intensified Israeli campaign will continue or whether it will alter the pace of the ceasefire violations. The immediate focus is likely to remain on the scale of the strikes, the civilian toll and the impact on already fragile diplomatic efforts to reduce the fighting.
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