ISRAELI airstrikes on Friday killed at least 24 people in northeastern Lebanon, the country’s news agency has said.
It was the latest deadly toll in the area since the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah escalated last month.
Lebanon’s state National News Agency reported four airstrikes in different villages across the country’s north east, saying rescuers were still searching for survivors in Younine, a town in the Bekaa Valley, from the rubble of a targeted building that was believed to have housed 20 people.
In recent days, Israel has intensified its airstrikes on the north-east city of Baalbek and nearby villages, as well as different parts of southern Lebanon, prompting roughly 60,000 people to flee their homes, according to Hussein Haj Hassan, a Lebanese official representing the region.
In an attack in the northeastern Baalbek-Hermel region, eight people were killed when a home was hit in the village of Amhaz and two more were killed in the village of Taraya, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.
Israel’s military said in a statement that attacks “in the area of Beirut” had targeted Hezbollah weapons manufacturing sites, command centres and other infrastructure.
Israeli planes also pounded Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh overnight, destroying dozens of buildings in several neighbourhoods, according to the news agency.
The early Friday airstrikes on Dahiyeh came after a four-day lull during which no airstrikes were reported in the suburb. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
International mediators are ramping up efforts to halt the wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, circulating new proposals to wind down the regional conflict.
Lebanon’s health ministry said more than 2800 people have been killed and 13,000 wounded since October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began firing rockets almost daily into Israel, drawing retaliation.
