People and Lebanese army members stand near a burnt car after an Israeli strike on the outskirts of the southern port city of Sidon

The Israeli military said on Wednesday it had bombed Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley overnight, and Hezbollah said it had carried out a drone attack on military posts in a kibbutz in northern Israel in retaliation.

The Bekaa Valley is a Hezbollah stronghold and the latest hostilities across the Israel-Lebanon border will fuel concern that the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza could spill out into an all-out Middle East conflict.

Israel also said it had killed a militant in Sidon, southern Lebanon, who worked with Iran's Revolutionary Guards and the Tehran-aligned Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said its warplanes had attacked a number of Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in the Bekaa area.

"Following the strikes, secondary explosions were identified, indicating the presence of large amounts of weapons in the facilities that were struck," it said in a statement.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said: "Attacking munitions warehouses in Lebanon is preparation for anything that might happen".

There was no immediate confirmation from security sources in Lebanon that weapons depots were targeted on Tuesday.

The sources said the strike was in a residential area near the eastern city of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley, an area populated mainly by Shi'ite Muslims from whom Hezbollah draws its support.

The airstrikes killed at least two people and injured 19, according to the security sources, but it was not immediately clear if those killed were civilians or fighters.

Hezbollah said it had retaliated for the strike on the Bekaa by firing Katyusha rockets at an Israeli military logistics site in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and by later firing a swarm of drones on military posts in the kibbutz of Amiad in northern Israel, about 22 km (14 miles) from the Lebanese border.

The Israeli military said its aerial defences intercepted some of the drones and others fell in the area. No injuries were reported.

Israel said the militant killed in Sidon was named Khalil Hussein Khalil Al-Maqdah. Two Palestinian sources told Reuters earlier that Maqdah was killed, identifying him as a member of the armed wing of the Palestinian faction Fatah.

Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been locked in hostilities for the last 10 months in parallel with the Gaza war.

Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31 although it has taken no direct action yet.

While most of the exchanges of fire have played out along the Israel-Lebanon border, some Israeli strikes have occurred deeper into Lebanon, including the Bekaa Valley, which borders Syria.

More than 600 people in Lebanon have been killed since the start of the clashes last October, including more than 400 Hezbollah combatants and 132 civilians, according to a Reuters toll.

Targeting arms depots has picked up more recently.

On Saturday, the Israeli military said it targeted a weapons depot used by Hezbollah militants in an airstrike. Lebanon's state news agency said at least 10 Syrian nationals, including two children, were killed in this incident.

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 Explosions light up sky as Israel strikes Hezbollah weapons depot

Israeli air strikes hit a Hezbollah weapons depot deep inside Lebanon on Monday, sparking explosions that lit up the night sky.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said fighter jets struck a number of weapons storage facilities in the area of Beqaa, which is considered a Hezbollah stronghold.

Following the strikes, “secondary explosions were identified, indicating the presence of large amounts of weapons in the facilities struck”, the IDF said.

Fighter jets also targeted and killed Hussein Ali Hussein, a member of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile unit, in the area of Deir Qanoun, in southern Lebanon.

On Tuesday, Hezbollah launched 55 rockets into the Upper Galilee and Golan Heights, all of which were either shot down by Israel’s air defence system or landed in open areas, according to Israeli sources.

Hezbollah is yet to follow through on its threat to launch a significant attack on Israel in response to the assassination of Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah commander, in Beirut last month.

The terror group is seemingly waiting to see if Hamas and Israel agree a ceasefire deal, but Hezbollah continues to launch daily rocket and drone attacks at northern Israel. For its part, Israel has expanded its areas of attacks in Lebanon.

An IDF official told The Telegraph that Israel believes Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, will still “react” to the killing of Shukr.

Nasrallah is the “main figure that can ignite a wider escalation, but he’s also afraid of Israel’s response and the implications for the survival of Hezbollah and for Lebanon”, the official added.

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Hezbollah fires barrage of rockets against Israel as US fails to secure ceasefire deal

US secretary of state Antony Blinken has wrapped up a Middle East tour.

More than 50 rockets were fired into the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights by Hezbollah on Wednesday after US secretary of state Antony Blinken wrapped up a Middle East tour which failed to secure a Gaza ceasefire.

The Lebanese Islamist group, an ally of Hamas, hit a number of private homes and injured at least one person.

Hezbollah said the assault was in response to an Israeli strike deep into Lebanon last night that killed one and injured 19.

As he wrapped up his ninth visit to the Middle East since the war began on October 7, Mr Blinken said that “time is of the essence” to secure a Gaza ceasefire.

He met with fellow mediators in Egypt and Qatar and on Monday had talks lasting three hours with the Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. But he ended his visit without securing any major breakthrough on a ceasefire deal.

Mr Blinken said that because Israel has accepted a proposal to bridge gaps with the militant group, the focus turns to doing everything possible to “get Hamas on board” and ensure both sides agree to key details.

“Our message is simple. It’s clear and it’s urgent,” he said. “We need to get a ceasefire and hostage agreement over the finish line, and we need to do it now.”

Mr Netanyahu accepted Washington’s so-called “bridging proposal” aimed at trying to solve sticking points and bring Israel and Hamas closer to a deal, Mr Blinken said.

Hamas called the latest proposal a “reversal” of what it agreed to previously. It accused the US of accepting what it called “new conditions” from Israel. One of the main sticking points is understood to be Hamas’s demand for a “complete” withdrawal of Israeli troops from all parts of the Gaza strip, which Israel has reportedly rejected.

Mr Netanyahu was quoted by some US press as saying he may have convinced the secretary of state that Israel should keep troops in the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border.

Mr Blinken denied the claims, saying: “The United States does not accept any long-term occupation of Gaza by Israel.

“More specifically, the agreement is very clear on the schedule and the locations of [Israel Defense Forces] withdrawals from Gaza, and Israel has agreed to that.”

Hamas is still believed to be holding around 110 hostages captured in the October 7 attack, which began the war.

The bodies of six hostages, including a British citizen, kidnapped from Israel by Hamas were recovered in Gaza, the Israeli military said yesterday.

Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell and Haim Perry were found in an overnight operation.

Mr Popplewell, 51, originally from Wakefield, was taken captive alongside his mother Channah Peri, 79, from their home in Nirim during the Hamas attack. Peri was released in November.

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