A destroyed building after an Israeli airstrike in the Chiyah district of Beirut.Image: keystone
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah continues to escalate. Now special forces were on a deadly mission in Lebanon – to a cemetery.
March 7, 2026, 6:51 p.mMarch 7, 2026, 6:51 p.m
Jakob Hartung / t-online
Israel’s army carried out a night-time operation with military helicopters in Lebanon. The military said special forces were deployed overnight near the town of Nabi Shit in the Bekaa Valley. The aim of the operation was to find the body of Israeli Air Force navigator Ron Arad, who has been missing since 1986.
The soldier was shot down over southern Lebanon and taken prisoner by the Shiite Amal militia. His fate remains unclear today and has preoccupied the Israeli public for decades. According to the Israeli army, the operation was unsuccessful: no evidence of Arad’s whereabouts was found. No Israeli soldiers were injured.
Hezbollah said four Israeli helicopters flew into eastern Lebanon from Syria and carried out airstrikes before landing. After the soldiers were dropped off, there were clashes with militia fighters near a cemetery in Nabi Shit. The Israeli soldiers are said to have looked for possible traces of Ron Arad there.
The Lebanese state news agency NNA reported heavy fighting in the region. According to this, at least 26 people were killed in fighting and air strikes, including three soldiers from the Lebanese army. In total, more than 200 people have died in Lebanon since the latest escalation.
Israel attacks Hezbollah positions
In parallel with the operation, the Israeli army continued its air strikes on Hezbollah positions. The military said the target was rocket launchers, weapons depots and other military facilities belonging to the Iranian-backed militia in southern Lebanon and in the Bekaa Valley. Commanders of the Hezbollah elite unit Radwan Brigade and the unit’s command centers were also attacked.
The fighting has escalated after Hezbollah fired rockets and drones into Israel again this week. Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said the militia had fired hundreds of rockets and drones into Israeli territory since the new fighting began.
No deaths have been reported in Israel so far. However, according to the military, eight Israeli soldiers were injured, five of them seriously, by shelling from Lebanon near the border. Among the injured is the son of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who was deployed as a combat soldier in Lebanon.
Hundreds of thousands of people on the run
The fighting has triggered a new refugee movement in Lebanon. The Norwegian Refugee Council estimates that around 300,000 people had to flee. Israel had previously asked residents of large parts of the south, the Bekaa Valley and the southern suburbs of Beirut to leave their homes.
“We sleep on the streets here – some in cars, some on the street, some on the beach,” resident Jamal Seifeddin told The New Arab newspaper. Many families left their homes hastily.
The UN envoy responsible for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, called on both sides to talk. These could be “crucial” in preventing future generations from “living through the same nightmare again and again.”