TEL AVIV –  An Israeli strike has killed at least ten people in Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said, prompting Hezbollah to launch a barrage of retaliatory rockets at Israel.

All of those killed in Lebanon were Syrian nationals. A woman and her two children are among the dead, according to the ministry. The strike also wounded at least five, two of which are in critical conditions. They include three Syrians, one Sudanese and one Lebanese, the ministry said. Two of the Syrians are in critical condition and undergoing surgery at a nearby hospital.

The Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility in the area of Nabatieh overnight. The death toll from the strike is one of the largest in southern Lebanon since Israel launched its war on Gaza following the Hamas attacks of October 7 that killed around 1,200 people. Mohamed, 14, was about to go sleep when he saw a missile hit a warehouse nearby. He told CNN rescuers worked through the night to retrieve the dead bodies from under the rubble, where they found a decapitated body and a severed arm.

Pointing to the sky buzzing with the sound of an unseen drone, Mohamed said: “They are always flying over here 24/7, sometimes they fly so low you can see them.” Referring to the victims, who are believed to all be Syrian migrants, Haitham, a Syrian national guard at a nearby company, said: “They escaped one war and got killed in another.”  Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon launched a volley of rockets towards Ayelet Hashahar in northern Israel in response to the strike, the group said in a statement. (CNN)…[+]