BEIRUT: Israeli air strikes on Lebanon over the last day have killed more than 20 people including several children, Lebanese authorities said on Saturday, after heavy Israeli bombardment pounded the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut overnight.

At least seven people were killed in the coastal city of Tyre late on Friday, Lebanon’s health ministry said. The Israeli military has previously ordered swathes of the city to evacuate but there were no orders published by the Israeli military spokesperson on social media platform X ahead of Friday’s strikes.

The ministry said two children were among the dead. Rescue operations were ongoing and other body parts retrieved in the aftermath of the attack would undergo DNA testing to identify them, the ministry added. At least 16 more people were killed in Israeli strikes on Saturday across the eastern plains around the historic city of Baalbek, the area’s governor said in a post on social media platform X.

The Lebanese health ministry said Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,136 people and wounded 13,979 in Lebanon over the last year. The toll includes 619 women and 194 children.

Civilian, four fighters killed in Syria bombing

Israel has been locked in fighting with Lebanese armed group Hezbollah since Oct 2023, but fighting has escalated dramatically since late September of this year. Israel has intensified and expanded its bombing campaign, and Hezbollah has ramped up daily rocket and drone attacks against Israel.

The group announced more than 20 operations on Saturday, as well as one that it said fighters carried out the previous day against a military factory south of Tel Aviv.

More than a dozen Israeli strikes also hit the southern suburbs of Beirut overnight, once a bustling collection of neighbourhoods. Now, many buildings have been almost entirely flattened, with Hezbollah’s yellow flags jutting out from the ruins, according to reporters who were taken on a tour of the area by Hezbollah.

Some buildings were partially damaged by the strikes, leading some floors to collapse and sending furniture and other personal belongings spilling onto parked cars below.

Syrian attack

Four fighters were among five people killed in overnight Israeli strikes in north and northwest Syria, a war monitor said on Saturday.

“Four Syrian pro-Iran fighters were killed in Israeli air strikes on the scientific research centre and warehouses near Safira east of Aleppo,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Britain-based monitor said two other raids further west targeting Saraqeb in Idlib province killed a fifth person. It said these strikes targeted two headquarters of Syrian regime forces frequented by members of Hezbollah group.

Since Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria, mainly targeting army positions and fighters including from Hezbollah. Israeli authorities rarely comment on the strikes, but have repeatedly said they will not allow arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence in Syria.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2024