Israel carries out rare airborne raid in Lebanon; 16 killed in strikes

Israel’s military carried out an airborne operation that dropped troops into a town in eastern Lebanon overnight, residents and Lebanese state media said on Saturday, as heavy Israeli strikes on the area left more than a dozen people dead.

Lebanon was plunged deeper into the conflict engulfing the Middle East on Monday when Iran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets and drones into Israel, which has responded with heavy bombardment across Lebanon’s south, east and near the capital Beirut.

Overnight, Israeli helicopters dropped troops near the town of Nabi Chit in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, Lebanese state media and residents said. Residents and Hezbollah fighters fired on the troops as they moved on foot, the reports said.

The Israeli troops withdrew and left by helicopter as Israeli strikes pounded Nabi Chit and nearby towns, state media and residents said. Israel’s military did not immediately respond to Reuters questions on the incident.

Lebanon’s health ministry said 16 people had been killed in Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours in Nabi Chit. A spokesperson told Reuters the toll included people killed in strikes throughout Friday as well as during intense overnight bombardment, and that it was expected to rise further.

Two security sources told Reuters that three army troops were among the dead.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 200 people across Lebanon, and orders to evacuate have displaced around 300,000 people, only a third of whom are now living in government shelters.

‘A NIGHT OF HELL’

Shawki al-Masri, who lives in a town adjacent to Nabi Chit, described the overnight bombing as “a night of hell”.

“We heard the helicopters over our house all night – they were so low we thought they would land on us,” he told Reuters.

“People in the town woke up and started shooting at them, then the warplanes started bombing. It was a very violent night and only calmed down when the sun came up,” he said.

In a statement overnight, Hezbollah said it had fired on Israeli troops who had been dropped near Nabi Chit by four Israeli helicopters. The group said the Israeli troops withdrew.

While Israeli forces are carrying out ground operations in southern Lebanon, pushing deeper into a strip of border villages, airborne operations are rare. In a 2024 war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli naval forces kidnapped a man from a Lebanese coastal town.

The United Nations on Saturday warned that the conflict was set to get “even worse,” and that talks between Israel and Lebanon “must be pursued with urgency” to end hostilities.

Its Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said in a statement that it was “clear that ongoing military actions will not deliver a lasting win to anyone”.

“Rather, they will only deepen instability and inflict further suffering,” she said.