Israeli strikes in Lebanon kill at least 12 people, intensifying rising regional tensions
The Hindu
Israeli strikes in Lebanon kill 12, escalating regional tensions amid ongoing conflict with Hezbollah and Hamas.
At least 10 people were killed and 24 wounded — including three children — in Israeli strikes in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley Friday (February 20, 2026), the Lebanese Health Ministry reported. Another two people were killed by an Israeli strike on a Palestinian refugee camp earlier in the day.
Israel said it had hit “command centers” of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in Bekaa Valley. There was no immediate statement from Hezbollah.
Local television footage from the scene of one of the strikes in the Bekaa showed the targeted site appeared to be an apartment building, and emergency crews were fighting a fire and searching in the rubble for survivors.
Earlier Friday (February 20, 2026), another Israeli strike had hit a Palestinian refugee camp in the port city of Sidon, killing two people.
The Israeli military said it hit a “Hamas command center” in the Ein el-Hilweh camp. Hamas acknowledged that two of its members had been killed in the strike but called the claim that a command center was struck a “flimsy pretext." It said the targeted building belonged to a joint security force made up of various Palestinian factions that is tasked with maintaining security in the camp.
After the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza, Hezbollah began firing rockets from Lebanon into Israel in support of Hamas and the Palestinians.
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