Lebanon says 15 killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday

Lebanon said 15 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday, including two rare strikes in mountain areas outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds in the south and east.

The health ministry said an Israeli strike on the village of Joun in the Chouf mountains, southeast of Beirut, killed four people.  Another Israeli strike killed three people in Maaysra -- a Shiite-majority village in a mostly Christian mountain area about 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of Beirut.

Eight people were killed in Israeli strikes in the south, the ministry said. Earlier, a Lebanese security official had told AFP "an Israeli strike targeted a house in the village of Maaysra", requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. A resident said the strike hit her village, destroying a house and a cafe.

Lebanon's National News Agency reported that "two rockets fell in Maaysra". The Israeli military said it was carrying out "extensive" air strikes in south Lebanon and the eastern Beqaa Valley after Hezbollah fired a ballistic missile that reached the central Israeli city of Tel Aviv for the first time before being intercepted.

Longtime foes Hezbollah and Israel have been locked in near-daily exchanges of cross-border fire since Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, sparking war in Gaza. The focus of Israel's firepower has shifted sharply from Gaza to Lebanon in recent days.