At least 7 killed in Israeli strikes across Lebanon

BEIRUT

Israeli warplanes launched intense strikes Saturday on 24 towns in Lebanon that killed at least seven people, including a mayor and a paramedic, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

At least 21 others were injured.

The strikes in southern Lebanon targeted the districts of Tyre and Jezzine, Nabatiyeh, Bint Jbeil, Marjayoun and Hasbaiyya.

In the east, airstrikes targeted the Baalbek and western Bekaa.

In central Lebanon, they focused on the Aalay district in Mount Lebanon.

In the south, Israeli fighters targeted the towns of Deir Qanoon Ras al-Ain, Sarifa, Saliha, Zibqin, Marwhin, Bayt al-Sayyad, Jabal al-Botm, al-Rmadiyeh, Chamaa and al-Dahira in the Tyre district.

A paramedic was killed in one strike that targeted a motorcycle in the town of Siddiqine, according to the Lebanese agency.

In the Jezzine district, warplanes launched a strike on the town of Kfar Houneh.

In Nabatiyeh, Israeli fighters carried out strikes on the El Souane intersection and the town of Zawtar El Charqiyeh, where three people were injured, according to the agency.

"Rwo martyrs and five injured were reportedly due to an Israeli strike that targeted a house in the town of al-Bazaliyah, resulting in its demolition," in the Baalbek district, according to a statement from the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

The ministry reported in another statement that "four people were martyred and 13 were injured" in the Western Bekaa district from an airstrike on a residential apartment in the town of Baaloul.

The National News Agency of Lebanon noted that among the dead was Haidar Shahla, the mayor of Sohmor.

Israel has mounted a huge air campaign in Lebanon since Sept. 23 against what it claims are Hezbollah targets, displacing more than 1.34 million people.

The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and the Lebanese group since the start of its offensive on the Gaza Strip, in which Israel has killed more than 42,500 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

Despite international warnings that the Mideast was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, it expanded the conflict by launching an incursion into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala