Lebanon reported that four individuals were killed in an Israeli strike near the Syrian border in the eastern part of the country on Sunday night. Israel stated that the strike targeted members of the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad.
Despite a ceasefire agreement established in November 2024 to halt over a year of conflicts between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has continued to carry out regular attacks on Lebanon. These strikes are often said to be aimed at the Iran-backed Hezbollah but occasionally also target their Palestinian affiliate, Hamas.
This strike marked Israel’s first claimed attack on Islamic Jihad in Lebanon since the ceasefire agreement, as the group is also aligned with Hezbollah.
According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, an Israeli drone targeted a vehicle on the Lebanese-Syrian border, resulting in the deaths of four individuals. The Lebanese health ministry confirmed the casualties in an official statement.
The Israeli military announced that it had targeted “Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in the Majdal Anjar area.”
During the conflicts between Israel and Hezbollah that began in October 2023 due to the Gaza war, fighters from Islamic Jihad were among those killed in Lebanon. Both the Palestinian group and Hamas asserted responsibility for some attacks and infiltration attempts from Lebanon during the hostilities.
Since the ceasefire, more than 370 individuals have lost their lives due to Israeli actions in Lebanon, according to a count based on health ministry reports by AFP.
Following the 2024 ceasefire, the Lebanese army declared in January that it had finished the initial phase of a government scheme to disarm Hezbollah in the vicinity of the Israeli border.
In efforts to disarm non-state factions, certain Palestinian groups in Lebanon relinquished their weapons to Lebanese authorities in various refugee camps last year. However, there have been no indications from Hamas and its Islamic Jihad associates about plans to disarm in Lebanon.
