Since October and the Hamas attack on southern Israel, Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon have killed over 450 people, most of them Hezbollah fighters, but the dead also include more than 80 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 17 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed since the war in Gaza began. Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the tense Lebanon-Israel frontier have been displaced in the monthslong war.
For years, Israel has launched frequent strikes on targets in Syria linked to Iran, its powerful regional backer, but rarely acknowledges them. The strikes have escalated over the past five months against the backdrop of the war in Gaza and ongoing clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces on the Lebanon-Israel border. A day after the Hamas surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, Hezbollah launched rockets on northern Israel, leading to limited clashes along the tense border with Lebanon.
The attacks have since gradually escalated, with Hezbollah introducing new weapons in their attacks and Israel striking deeper into Lebanon. The group maintains that it will stop its attacks once there is a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.