Dozens of people were killed in an intensive wave of Israeli strikes across southern and eastern Lebanon on Tuesday, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to step up military action against Hezbollah.
At least 31 people were killed in the latest attacks, including several children, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
The Israeli military said it hit more than 100 Hezbollah infrastructure sites and fighters in what was one of the heaviest nights of bombardment since a US-brokered ceasefire began in mid-April.
It came after Netanyahu this week said he had given instructions to “press the pedal even harder” in targeting Hezbollah.
Early on Wednesday, sirens sounded in northern Israel early on after a projectile was launched from Lebanon into Israel, the Israeli military said in a statement.
It added the projectile fell into an open area and no injuries were reported.
Speaking at a security cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Netanyahu said Israel was “deepening our operation in Lebanon”.
“The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] is operating with large forces on the ground and seizing dominant terrain,” he said, adding that they were “fortifying the security zone” to protect communities in northern Israel from Hezbollah attacks.
The ceasefire has been repeatedly violated by both sides, threatening to derail the complex ongoing talks to end the war between the US, Israel and Iran.
Israeli air and artillery strikes have continued daily, especially in the south of Lebanon, while Hezbollah has been launching rockets and drones at communities in northern Israel and Israeli troops occupying parts of southern Lebanon.
Air strikes targeted the Bekaa Valley village of Mashghara and Burj al-Shamali across southern Lebanon, local media said.
Some strikes hit near Beaufort Castle, state media reported, a nearly 900-year-old fortress recognised by the UN’s heritage body UNESCO for being “one of the best-preserved examples of medieval castles” in the region.
In Monday’s video statement, Netanyahu said that Israel was going to increase the number and intensity of its strikes targeting Hezbollah in response to the Iran-backed Shia Muslim group’s attacks, including those involving fibre-optic drones that can evade Israeli defences.
“We will deal them a crushing blow,” he vowed.
The announcement prompted scenes of panic in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, where residents were seen fleeing the area following the remarks. Thousands of cars lined the streets with families trying to escape for safety.
Though the strikes spared the capital, Israeli warplanes carried out wave after wave of strikes across Lebanon throughout the evening and into the early hours of Tuesday. The BBC counted dozens of attacks across nearly 50 locations.
A man and his wife were killed in a strike on their home in the southern town of Arab Salim on Monday evening, and two other people were killed in the village of Kauthariyet El Rez, according to NNA.
Overnight, several homes in Mashghara were destroyed in Israeli strikes.
The Lebanese health ministry said the bodies of 11 people, among them one woman and two children, were pulled from the rubble. Another 15 people were injured, it added.
These included a young boy, Mohammed. Videos show rescue crews in the middle of the night frantically digging through the rubble as two tiny arms poke through a hole they’ve made. Caked in dirt and dust, they finally pulled the seven-year-old to safety.
“When I woke up, I felt like I couldn’t move, and beside me was just darkness,” Mohammad tells the BBC as he lies in his hospital bed surrounded by family.
“I heard the sound of the guys who were rescuing me. They took a long time to pull me out.”
His head was wrapped in bandages, and his legs and arms were also covered in cuts and scratches.
Mohammad was asleep in his bed when the missile struck his home, killing his dad and two sisters.
Mashghara feels like a ghost town. A few cars pass ours on the road to check who we are, but life is dead.
A member of the municipality, Ahmad, takes us to where some overnight strikes hit. It’s apocalyptic with crumbled homes and shops.
“I’m not a member of Hezbollah, but everyone in the village stands with the resistance, and the enemy [Israel] is sparing no-one,” Ahmad says.
Then Ahmad is interrupted by the sound of jets. A loud boom, and we have to go.
Social media videos later show a large explosion on a road not far from where we’re filming.
The Israeli military released aerial footage from Mashghara that it said showed several strikes on “Hezbollah infrastructure sites where terrorists activity was identified”. “During the strike the terrorists were eliminated,” it added.
The military also said it had struck more than 90 weapons storage facilities, command centres, observation posts and other infrastructure sites used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon overnight.
On Tuesday morning, the military issued new evacuation orders across Lebanon, accusing Hezbollah of violating the terms of a ceasefire between the Israeli and Lebanese governments that came into force on 17 April.
The military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col Avichay Adraee, said Hezbollah’s repeated breaches had left Israeli forces with no choice but to act.
Hezbollah said it targeted three barracks and a military post in northern Israel “in response to the violation of the ceasefire” by Israel.
Netanyahu’s order to intensify the Israeli strikes came after the military said a soldier had been killed in combat in southern Lebanon on Sunday, bringing the total Israeli military losses there from Hezbollah attacks since the conflict began on 2 March to 23, along with one civilian contractor.
The Lebanese health ministry says Israeli strikes over the same period have killed at least 3,185 people.
Source: BBC
