At least 41 people were killed yesterday, Sunday, in Israeli bombings in Lebanon, including 23 in a village north of the capital, Beirut, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Israel, which has been in open conflict with Hezbollah since 23 September, has intensified its strikes in recent days against the strongholds of the Lebanese Shiite movement, an ally of Iran, targeting areas in the southern suburbs of Beirut as well as southern and eastern Lebanon.
Yesterday, however, the Israeli Air Force also targeted the community of Aalamat in the Byblos district, resulting in “the deaths of 23 people, including seven children, and injuries to another six,” reported the Ministry of Health, warning that the death toll may rise as “human remains” were retrieved from the rubble.
A house was struck shortly after a Hezbollah member visited to check on internally displaced persons, a source close to the security services told AFP, adding that the Hezbollah member later died from his injuries in hospital.
Footage from AFP shows rescue teams searching the rubble of a completely destroyed building with their bare hands, while heavy machinery, including excavators, moved pieces of concrete.
The Israeli military has repeatedly targeted buildings that, according to Lebanese media, were sometimes occupied by individuals connected to Hezbollah.
The area was cordoned off by Lebanese security forces and Hezbollah members, as reported by an AFP correspondent on the scene. Dozens of people gathered their belongings and left the village in vehicles.
On Facebook, Ali Haidar, a local, stated that the targeted house belonged to his grandfather and was hosting 35 internally displaced people from Baalbek (eastern Lebanon), mainly “women and children.”
The Baalbek district, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, has been systematically bombarded by Israel for days, forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee.
At least 12 people were killed yesterday in Israeli bombings in Baalbek, according to the Ministry of Health. Another three people were killed in a raid on the village of Qasr in the Hermel district, also in eastern Lebanon.
In the south, three members of a first aid service associated with Hezbollah were killed in an Israeli bombing on their centre in the community of Adloun, as reported by the Ministry of Health.
Hezbollah, for its part, announced that it targeted Israeli soldiers in Lebanese border villages yesterday, launching rockets, missiles, and drones against targets in northern Israel.
Alongside the campaign of mass aerial bombings in Lebanon, the Israeli military has been conducting ground assaults in the southern part of the country since 30 September.
Israel has stated that its aim is to neutralise Hezbollah in the border areas of southern Lebanon, allowing for the safe return of approximately 60,000 residents of its northern areas who were forced to abandon their homes due to fire from the Lebanese movement since 8 October 2023.
Since then, more than 3,180 people have been killed in Lebanon, the majority of whom were civilians, according to the figures provided by the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Source: AMNA-AFP-DPA
