BEIRUT: Lebanon said an Israeli strike on Sunday (Feb 15) near the Syrian border in the country’s east killed four people, as Israel said it had targeted operatives from Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad.
Despite a November 2024 truce that sought to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon, usually saying it is targeting the Iran-backed group but occasionally also targeting its Palestinian ally Hamas.
It appeared to be the first strike Israel has claimed in Lebanon against Islamic Jihad, which is also allied with Hezbollah, since the truce.
An Israeli drone “targeted a car on the Lebanese-Syrian border”, the state-run National News Agency said, adding that “four bodies” were inside the vehicle.
Lebanon’s health ministry confirmed the toll in a statement.
The Israeli military said in a statement it “struck Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in the Majdal Anjar area”.
Fighters from Islamic Jihad were among those killed in Lebanon during hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which erupted in October 2023 over the Gaza war.
The Palestinian group and Hamas both claimed some attacks and infiltration attempts from Lebanon during the hostilities.
More than 370 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of health ministry reports.
In line with the 2024 truce, the Lebanese army announced in January that it had completed the first phase of a government plan to disarm Hezbollah, covering the area near the Israeli border.
As part of the Lebanese government’s push to disarm non-state groups, some Palestinian factions in Lebanon handed over weapons in several refugee camps last year to the Lebanese authorities.
Hamas and its Islamic Jihad ally have not announced plans to disarm in Lebanon.