Malaysian peacekeepers hurt in Israeli strike in Lebanon

The Lebanese army said an Israeli strike on a vehicle near a checkpoint in the southern city of Sidon killed three people and wounded troops and UN peacekeepers.

"The Israeli enemy targeted a car while it was passing through the Awali checkpoint," the main northern entrance to Sidon, the army said.

With the exception of a few limited strikes, Sidon, a Sunni Muslim-majority city, has been relatively spared the deadly air raids targeting south Lebanon in Israel's war against the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.

The strike killed three people, all of them passengers in the targeted vehicle, the army said.

Three Lebanese soldiers manning the checkpoint were also wounded alongside members of the Malaysian contingent of UNIFIL, according to the army.

The UNIFIL peacekeeping force said a "convoy bringing newly-arrived peacekeepers to south Lebanon was passing Sidon when a drone strike occurred nearby."

"Five peacekeepers were lightly injured and treated by the Lebanese Red Cross on the spot. They will continue to their posts," it said, urging warring parties "to avoid actions putting peacekeepers or civilians in danger."

Lebanon's official National News Agency said a UNIFIL vehicle was on the "same lane" during the strike, which left UN peacekeepers with "minor injuries".

An AFP correspondent in the area saw the charred remains of the targeted vehicle which was only a few metres away from an army checkpoint.

The correspondent saw UNIFIL peacekeepers gathered on the footpath near the checkpoint, some of them bloodied and wounded after the raid, as paramedics attended to their injuries.

The UNIFIL convoy comprised a number of busses, the correspondent said.

Israeli raids have intensified in recent weeks on Haret Saida, a densely-populated Sidon suburb that has a significant population of Shiia Muslims.

Earlier, Lebanon's transport minister said the country's only international airport was operating normally, after Israeli strikes on the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, including one on an area near the hub.

Minister Ali Hamie said that planes were taking off and landing without any issue.

A heater factory next to the airport's perimeter wall had been badly damaged in a strike, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.

Israel has been at war with Lebanon's Hezbollah since late September when it broadened its focus from fighting Hamas in Gaza to securing its northern border.

The strike near the airport came after Hezbollah announced yesterday that it had targeted a military base close Ben Gurion Airport, Israel's main international transport hub.

The overnight strike in Beirut caused "minor damage" to some buildings but "not inside the terminal building", an airport official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to media.

He said the strike had affected a maintenance building belonging to a subsidiary of Middle East Airlines, Lebanon's national carrier and practically the only airline still operating flights there.

The Israeli army had earlier issued an evacuation order for four neighbourhoods in southern Beirut, including a site near the airport.

Since 23 September, more than 2,600 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, according to Health Minister Firass Abiad.

Five Israeli soldiers were killed and 16 others wounded in combat in southern Lebanon in recent weeks, the Israeli military said in a statement this afternoon.