Escalating Israeli attacks on Lebanon kill nine

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Nine people were killed in a series of Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon and the northeastern Bekaa Valley, marking a new escalation as ceasefire talks for Gaza, closely linked to a truce with the powerful Hezbollah group, continue to stall.

Two Syrian nationals were killed in air strikes on the villages of Al Wazzani and Khiam in the Nabatieh Governorate, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, and one Lebanese national was killed overnight in strikes in the Baalbek district in Bekaa where 20 people were injured. The Lebanese group Hezbollah announced the death of five of its fighters following Israel’s attacks.

A prominent commander in the Fatah-affiliated armed group Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades was also killed in the rash of escalated Israeli strikes. Khalil Al Maqdah was killed in an Israeli strike on his car in the southern Lebanese city of Saida Wednesday afternoon, the group said.

"The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades praises the central role of the martyr Khalil Al Maqdah in supporting the Palestinian people and their resistance during the Battle of the Flood of Al Aqsa," the armed Fatah-affiliated faction said. The group added Mr Maqdah was active in "supporting the resistance cells" in the West Bank throughout the years.

The Israeli army acknowledged the assassination and said Mr Maqdah was operating "on behalf of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation and the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC]." Israel also accused Mr Maqdah and his brother Mounir, who is the head of the Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade in Lebanon, of working with Iran to smuggle weapons and funds to Palestinian factions in the West Bank.

Mr Maqdah is the first Fatah official in Lebanon to be assassinated by Israel since the beginning of the Gaza war, when Hezbollah and allied armed groups announcement they would join the conflict against Israel.

The Al Aqsa Brigades are coalition of Fatah-associated Palestinian armed groups operating from the West Bank, Gaza, and Lebanon, and often wrongly attributed as Fatah's official military wing. The group publicly joined Hamas in attacking Israel on October 7 and has since confronted Israel's subsequent invasion of the Gaza strip, taking part in several operations.

Mr Maqdah was also a member of Fatah's Palestinian National Security Forces in Saida's Ain al Hilweh refugee camp, the biggest camp for Palestinians in Lebanon.

Israel overnight struck “a number of Hezbollah weapons storage facilities” in the Bekaa and “a compound that was used by Hezbollah's Aerial Defense system” the Israeli army said.

Hezbollah responded Wednesday morning with a barrage of over 50 rockets into the Israel-occupied Golan heights, causing heavy damage to homes and injuring at least one person in the occupied town of Katzrin, Israeli media reported.

Israeli raids on Lebanon have escalated as Gaza ceasefire talks – tied directly to a truce with Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah group – continue to stall. It has increased pre-emptive offensive attacks ahead of the group’s promised retribution for the assassination of its senior commander Fouad Shukr, in a strike in Beirut in late July.

Hezbollah initiated attacks on Israel in October in support of its Gaza-based ally Hamas and has consistently conditioned the end of its cross-border conflict with Israel on a lasting truce in Gaza. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has said that the group does not want war and would take “measured decisions" rather than retaliate impulsively to Mr Shukr’s assassination. He also promised to make Israel “weep” with its response.

The Iran-backed group has yet however to initiate a major attack on Israel.

More than 550 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the cross-border conflict broke out in October 8 a day after Israel's war on Gaza began. While most deaths have been Hezbollah members or allied fighters, dozens of civilians have also been killed. On the Israeli side, the army has acknowledged the deaths of 22 soldiers and 26 civilians.

Israel and Hezbollah last fought a major conflict in 2006 – a 34-day war that devastated parts of Beirut and killed about 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and about 160 in Israel, mostly soldiers.