Israeli strike wounds six in Lebanon, ministry says

An Israeli strike near Hawsh al-Sayyed Ali in Lebanon's Hermel district wounded six people on Friday, Lebanon's health ministry said, while Israel said it targeted a Syrian operative accused of planning attacks under Iranian direction.

The ministry said the wounded included five Syrian nationals, two of them women, and one Lebanese person. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that a military drone targeted a car in the town, which is near the Syrian border.

Israel's military said it struck Yusuf Ali al-Hassoun, whom it described as a Syrian terrorist who “operated under the direction of the Iranian regime” and advanced attacks targeting Israeli civilians and Israeli soldiers in southern Syria. It did not say whether he was part of a particular militant group.

The Israeli military alleged that Hassoun planned and advanced attacks against soldiers that were thwarted, including launching explosive drones and rockets toward Israeli soldiers in southern Syria.

The area around Hawsh al-Sayyed Ali has largely been spared such attacks since an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire was agreed in June.

Since the December 2024 ouster of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria and sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan since 1974. Israel has also carried out repeated incursions deeper into Syrian territory and has vowed to keep troops in a “security zone” in southern Syria.