At least 18 killed in Aitou in northern Lebanon, say Red CrossIsrael has expanded its targets in its war with the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon on Monday, killing at least 18 people in its first strike on the Christian-majority town of Aitou in the north, the Lebanese Red Cross said.
Reuters reports:
So far the main focus of Israel’s military operations in Lebanon has been in the south, the eastern Bekaa Valley and the suburbs of Beirut.
The strike in the northern region hit a house that had been rented to displaced families, Aitou Mayor Joseph Trad told Reuters. In addition to the deaths, four people were injured, the Red Cross said.
Israel on Monday ordered residents of 25 villages to evacuate to areas north of the Awali River, which flows through southern Lebanon, as it intensifies its attacks in the region.
An Israeli strike killed Muhammad Kamel Naim, the commander of the anti-tank missile unit of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, in the Nabatieh area of south Lebanon, the military said.
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Israel’s military said that three projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory, and that all of them had been intercepted, following reports that sirens were sounding across the country.
Israeli fighter jets struck the launcher from which the projectiles were fired, the military added. It said no injuries had been reported.
Israel’s deadly air strike in northern Lebanon earlier today marked a departure from the usual pattern of its attacks, AFP reports. The strike hit far from the main combat area of the country and in a mostly Christian area.
Israel has focused its firepower mostly on Hezbollah strongholds in Shiite Muslim-majority areas in the country and in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
An AFP photographer at the site of the strike in Aitou said it had levelled a residential building at the entrance to the village.
Body parts were scattered in the rubble, with Red Cross volunteers searching for survivors while ambulances evacuated wounded people.
A Lebanese army soldier stands near destroyed vehicles at a site damaged by an Israeli air strike in the Christian-majority region of Aitou in north Lebanon. Photograph: Omar Ibrahim/ReutersAFP provides a report on the latest clashes between Hezbollah and Israel.
Hezbollah said it battled Israeli troops in south Lebanon, and claimed several new attacks on Israel after a drone strike on an Israeli base near Binyamina, south of Haifa, killed four soldiers on Sunday night.
Israeli forces launched a string of new air strikes on targets in Lebanon today, including one on the north of the country which killed at least 18 people, according to the Lebanese Red Cross.
Israel also faced new criticism over their alleged attacks on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.
Sirens sound across Israel as projectiles fired from LebanonThe IDF said millions of Israelis were rushing to shelters as sirens sounded across central Israel, including Tel Aviv, in response to projectiles fired from Lebanon.
The Israeli military says it has sent out 1.7 million text messages, 3.4 million voice messages and made 3,700 voice calls notifying civilians in Lebanon to evacuate as it continues its ground invasion there, AP reports.
Some 2,300 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since last October, more than three-quarters of them in the past month, according to the Lebanese government. At least 1.2 million people have been displaced — the vast majority since Israel ramped up airstrikes across the country last month.
Israel says it is making an effort to communicate with civilians ahead of airstrikes, but people interviewed by the the AP news agency say that they don’t receive the warnings – or that they come in the middle of the night or don’t adequately cover the area that is struck.
Lebanese sources say the orders often come at very short notice, and it’s not clear where people can go or when they will be able to return home. One quarter of Lebanese territory is now under Israeli military displacement orders, according to the UN’s human rights division.
Smoke rises behind heavy damaged structures, buildings and vehicles after Israeli army attacked Baalbek in southern Lebanon Photograph: Anadolu/Getty ImagesThe United Nations human rights office has said it was appalled by more than a week of heavy Israeli strikes on northern Gaza where it said tens of thousands of civilians are trapped without food or supplies, Reuters reports.
“In the shadow of the escalation of hostilities across the Middle East, the Israeli military appears to be cutting off North Gaza completely from the rest of the Gaza Strip and conducting hostilities with absolute disregard for the lives and security of Palestinian civilians,” the rights office said.
It added in a statement that it had received reports that Israeli forces had erected sand mounds at a key juncture, effectively “sealing off north Gaza” and firing on those attempting to flee.
US embassy strongly urges citizens to leave LebanonThe US embassy in Lebanon said its citizens were strongly encouraged to leave Lebanon “now”, Reuters reports. The embassy added that additional flights it organised for its citizens traveling out of Beirut would not continue indefinitely.
Two Palestinians shot dead in West BankIsraeli forces shot dead two Palestinians in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, AP reports.
Commenting on the incident, the Israeli army official said its troops exchanged fire with armed militants during what it termed a “counterterrorism operation” in the Jenin area, killing one of the gunmen.
According to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, one of the men was 17 years old. Four others were injured by Israeli fire during the raid, it said.
Wafa reported that Israel had deployed their snipers on the roofs of a number of tall buildings in the city.
Lebanese officials say Israeli airstrike struck near aid convoyOfficials said an Israeli airstrike hit near an aid convoy in Lebanon, wounding a driver and lightly damaging the trucks, AP reports.
The humanitarian aid, which reached Beirut on Monday, was marked with the flags of Turkey and the United Arab Emirates as well as the Red Cross insignia.
Governor of the Baalbek-Hermel region, Bachir Khodr accompanied the convoy. He said the airstrike hit as it was passing through northeastern Lebanon. He shared a picture on X taken from inside a vehicle showing a large cloud of smoke on the road ahead.
It was not clear how badly the driver was wounded. The Guardian could not independently verify the image.
Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant briefed his US counterpart Lloyd Austin on the deadly Hezbollah drone attack on a military base in Israel yesterday and vowed “a forceful response.”
The attack near the city of Binyamina killed four soldiers and wounded 61. It was the deadliest strike by the militant group since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon two weeks ago.
In his talk with Austin, Gallant “highlighted the severity of the attack and the forceful response that would be taken against Hezbollah,” his office said.
He also “reiterated the measures” taken by the military to coordinate with UNIFIL peacekeepers in southern Lebanon and to avoid harming them, after mounting criticism of Israel for repeatedly firing on UN soldiers.
Gallant’s office said he expressed his appreciation to Austin and the US administration for deciding to send a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery – used to shoot down ballistic missiles – to Israel “in the coming days.”