The IDF launched a drone strike on Baalbek, 100 km (62) miles north of the Lebanon-Israel border on Thursday, according to reports in Lebanese media. A driver of an oil delivery truck was reported to have been wounded in the strike and taken to a local area hospital.
Israeli strikes on the village of Maroun El Ras in South Lebanon were conducted overnight which according to the Lebanese news agency caused damage to buildings and infrastructure but did not cause injuries. The IDF said on Wednesday that some 40 Hezbollah targets were struck in southern Lebanon after dozens of rockets were fired at Israel.
According to a report in the Hezbollah affiliated Al Akhbar newspaper on Thursday, the Iran-backed group informed Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati that it has no intention of stopping its rocket fire on Israel and that threats would not change the group's decision to continue their fight in support of Gaza. The paper said Hezbollah was prepared to confront any attempt to expand the battle field especially when Israel was planning "a new crime" in Rafah.
Hezbollah claims that since October 7, it had launched 1,650 attacks on Israel, claiming most were military outposts and bases.
On Wednesday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, claimed half of Hezbollah's senior commanders had been killed in the months since the start of the war, "The rest are in hiding, deserting South Lebanon to the mercy of the Israeli attacks," he said after meeting with senior IDF officers in the north.
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Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (left) during meeting with senior commanders in the north on Wednesday
(Photo: Defense Ministry )
Gallant said the government's top priority is to bring about a safe return of residents to their homes after being evacuated when the war began.
Biden's Mideast envoy Amos Hochstein is expected to arrive in Israel to advance his efforts to reach a diplomatic agreement in Lebanon, that would prevent a full-blown war on the Israeli-Lebanon border.