Hizbollah vows resistance after deadly Israeli strike

Hizbollah warned on Saturday that it would have no choice but to fight on after an Israeli strike on targets in Lebanon killed eight of its operatives.

Lebanon's government has vowed to disarm Hizbollah, but Israel insists it retains the right to defend itself by striking the Iran-backed group.

On Friday, the Israeli military said it had hit Hizbollah command centres in eastern Lebanon and targets linked to the Palestinian group Hamas in the south.

Hizbollah said on Saturday that eight of its fighters had been killed, after Lebanon's health ministry said 10 people died in the east and two in the south.

"What happened yesterday in the Bekaa is a new massacre and a new aggression," Hizbollah official Mahmud Qamati said, in a speech broadcast by the Al-Manar network.

"What option do we have left to defend ourselves and our country? What option do we have other than resistance? We no longer have any option."

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun also condemned the attacks, which came just days after the government said the army will start implementing the second phase of its plan to disarm Hizbollah in the south of the country.

Mourners carry the coffins of two Hamas members who were killed on Friday by an Israeli strike during their funeral procession at Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, on Saturday. AP

The strikes came as tensions were also building between the United States and Iran, with US President Donald Trump threatening military action over the Islamic republic's nuclear programme.

Iran backs several armed groups in the region, including Hizbollah and Hamas.

In Lebanon's eastern city of Baalbek, a mass funeral was held for commander Hussein Mohammad Yaghi and one of the fighters, with hundreds of people gathered, waving Hezbollah flags and chanting support.

A Hizbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP all eight members of the group were attending a meeting in the eastern Bekaa region when a strike killed them.

The Israeli military said it had targeted "several terrorists of Hizbollah's missile array in three different command centres in the Baalbek area".

An AFP correspondent in eastern Lebanon saw a bulldozer clearing debris following the strike on Bednayel, and a heavily damaged building between Riyak and Ali al-Nahri, where the Hezbollah official said the members were meeting.

The raids were against targets in residential areas, according to the correspondent.

They came hours after an Israeli strike on the country's largest Palestinian refugee camp in the south killed two people, according to the health ministry, with Israel's army saying it had targeted Hamas.

In a statement, Hamas condemned the attack, which it said led to civilian casualties as the targeted building "belongs to the joint security force charged with maintaining security and stability in the camp".

Agence France-Presse