19 killed in Israeli strikes across Lebanon

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 kilometers north of Beirut.

Eight people were killed in Israeli strikes in the south, the ministry said, including three in Ain Qana, where thirteen people were also wounded.

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.

Israeli strikes targeted Nabatieh, al-Addousiyeh, Adloun, al-Hoshh, al-Zahrani, al-Jmayjmeh, Haris, Ansariyeh, Bablieh, Ghassaniyeh and many other regions in south Lebanon. In the east, a strike targeted the outskirts of Shtoura near Zahle and four people were killed and 38 wounded in Israeli airstrikes on the Baalbek district, raising Wednesday's casualty toll to 19 dead and around 95 wounded.

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.