Lebanon’s health ministry has just recently confirmed that one person has been killed in Israeli air strikes in the north of the Bekaa Valley.

The strikes on the outskirts of Hermel also injured six people, two of them seriously, according to the ministry.

Earlier, NNA reported that a shepherd had been killed outside the town of Bodai, which is in the Hermel region.

A separate air raid on the town of Aitaroun, close to the Israeli border, injured 11 people, the ministry says.

Image source, Reuters

Fears of an all-out regional conflict in the Middle East have been heightened in the past week after cross-border attacks involving Israel and Hezbollah intensified.

Here's what's been happening in brief:

• On Tuesday, 12 people were killed and thousands wounded after pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon
• The following day hundreds of walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded, killing 27 people and wounding hundreds
• Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the attacks, while Israel has declined to comment - though it is widely assumed to be responsible
• On Friday, Israel said it conducted an air strike in the neighbourhood of Dahieh, a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, killing a commander from the Iranian-backed militia and other senior figures

• Lebanon’s health ministry said 45 people, including three children, were killed in that strike
• Cross-border attacks continued over the weekend, with Hezbollah launching 150 projectiles into Israel, while Israel carried out air strikes into southern Lebanon that it said destroyed thousands of the militia's rocket launchers

A senior Israeli military official says the IDF is “currently focusing on Israel’s aerial campaign only“ after being asked if a ground invasion of southern Lebanon is imminent.

Speaking in a background briefing to reporters, the official set out the three military goals for the current campaign, which would allow Israel to achieve its aim of returning thousands of displaced citizens to the north of the country.

The official says Israel wants to degrade Hezbollah's ability to fire rockets over the border as it has done since 8 October, as well as push its fighters back from the Lebanon-Israel border.

The third aim is to destroy the infrastructure that has been built by Hezbollah’s elite infantry force - the Radwan forces - which the official says would be used to attack “Israeli communities in the north, to massacre, murder, and kidnap Israeli civilians”.

Image source, Reuters

Lebanese media outlets report that there were Israeli air raids on dozens of locations in the south and east of the country at around 06:30 local time (04:30 BST).

State news agency NNA says there were more than 80 strikes in the southern Nabatieh district, and strikes on multiple areas of Bint Jbeil and Marjayoun.

NNA also reports intense air strikes in the eastern Bekaa region, targeting the areas around Baalbek and Hermel.

As we reported in an earlier post, the agency has separately said that one person was killed in Bodai, which is just to the north-east of Baalbek.

Image source, Reuters

We're just hearing now that Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has spoken to US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin.

Gallant says he provided his US counterpart with a "situation assessment of Hezbollah threats and briefed him on IDF operations to degrade Hezbollah’s ability to launch attacks against Israeli civilians," in a post , externalon X.

The wider regional security situation and "threats posed by Iran and its proxies" were also discussed, he says.

• For context: On Sunday, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed to have fired cruise missiles and drones at Israel. Hezbollah is the main player in the so-called Axis of Resistance, an alliance of factions across the Middle East supported by Iran.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) is reporting that one person has been killed and six others wounded in Israeli air strikes this morning.

The deadly strikes occurred on the outskirts of Bodai, a town in the Bekaa Valley in north-eastern Lebanon.

The NNA identified the fatality as a shepherd and said two members of his family were among the injured transferred to hospitals.

Hezbollah also said via its Al-Ahed website that one person was killed and six others wounded in Bodai.

Fears of wider offensive looms as Israel steps up air strikes on Hezbollah targetspublished at 07:42 British Summer Time

07:42 BST

Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Beirut

Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah is intensifying, with some of the most intense air strikes in the near year-long conflict.

The fear here is that this is the prelude of a wider offensive that could include a ground invasion of southern Lebanon to push fighters away from the border.

This would create the conditions for the return of tens of thousands of Israeli residents displaced from northern communities, which Israel says is the goal of its campaign.

Israel may be hoping that with this pressure Hezbollah will back down. So far, it seems unlikely.

The group is weakened after significant setbacks but remains defiant. Speaking at the funeral of top commanders killed in an airstrike in Beirut, the Hezbollah number two - Naim Qassem - said the group would not be deterred, and vowed to continue with the attacks on Israel until there was a ceasefire in Gaza.

"We have entered a new phase,” he said. "The title of which is the open-ended battle of reckoning."

What is also concerning is that, as seen yesterday, there were not only rockets being fired by Hezbollah but also missiles launched by an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq.

This could be an indication that any major conflict is unlikely to remain contained to Lebanon and Israel.

We can now bring you some of the latest pictures from the region.

Here, you can see Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, as seen from the city of Tyre.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Today's strikes come after fighting between Israel and Hezbollah intensified over the weekend.

Lebanon-based Hezbollah launched 150 projectiles into Israel, according to the IDF, in what it said was retaliation for recent attacks targeting it.

Some of these strikes reached further south into Israel than any attack from Lebanon since 8 October 2023, and damaged homes.

Israel also carried out air strikes on targets in southern Lebanon and said it had destroyed thousands of Hezbollah's rocket launchers.

A funeral was also held for the Hezbollah operations commander Ibrahim Aqil, who was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday.

He was wanted not only by Israel but also by the US, which put a $7m (£5.2m) bounty on his head - accusing him of involvement in the killing of hundreds of Americans in Beirut in the 1980s.

Lebanon’s health ministry says 45 people, including three children, were killed in that Friday strike.

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Image source, Reuters

Social media videos show large blasts in southern Lebanon where the Israeli military says it’s begun widespread strikes on Hezbollah targets after identifying plans for large scale rocket fire towards Israel.

Israel says today’s strikes are expected to be more significant than the heavy bombardment of yesterday.

Its military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said this morning that residents of southern Lebanon had been given a message to keep their distance from Hezbollah posts.

Asked by reporters about a possible Israeli ground incursion, he said that Israel “will do whatever is needed” to return evacuated residents of northern Israel safely to their homes.

Yesterday, Hezbollah launched missiles deeper into Israeli territory.

While the armed group previously said it would fight on until there was a ceasefire in Gaza, its deputy chief, Naim Qassem, told mourners at a funeral for a top commander killed by Israel in Beirut last week, that an “open-ended battle of reckoning" had now begun.

Image source, Reuters

This morning, we've heard from Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, who says the military will carry our more "extensive and precise" strikes in Lebanon.

He has warned people to move away from Hezbollah targets "for their own safety".

This comes after Hezbollah launched 150 rockets into Israel over the weekend, according to the IDF, in what it says was retaliation for recent attacks targeting it.

We're going to be following this developments closely, so stay with us as our correspondents on the ground bring you all the latest updates.