At least 492 people were killed in Israeli air strikes on Lebanon on Monday, including 35 children, the health ministry said, making it the deadliest day of cross-border violence since the Gaza war began.
Arab countries strongly condemned Israel for its growing hostility with Hezbollah, which has escalated to unprecedented levels in nearly a year.
The war began when Hamas and other Palestinian militants launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, joined by Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups.
Israel said it had killed “a large number” of Hezbollah militants in strikes against some 1,300 sites in southern and eastern Lebanon, including a “targeted attack” in Beirut.
Hezbollah said its third leader, Ali Qarake, was alive and had moved to a safe place, after a source said the attack on the capital had targeted him.
State media reported new raids in eastern Lebanon, while Hezbollah said it had hit five sites in Israel.
People were seen running for safety as air raid sirens sounded in the coastal Israeli city of Haifa.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the attacks killed 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, and wounded 1,645 others. Health Minister Firas Abiad said “thousands of families” had been displaced.
Explosions near the ancient city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon sent smoke rising into the sky.
“We sleep and wake up under bombardment… this is what our life has become,” said Wafa Ismail, a 60-year-old housewife from the southern village of Javtar.
– ‘The most difficult week for Hezbollah’ –
Global powers have urged Israel and Hezbollah to step back from the brink of full-blown war, as violence spreads from Israel’s southern border with Gaza to its northern border with Lebanon.
Egypt urged the United Nations Security Council to intervene, while Iraq requested an urgent meeting of Arab states on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.
Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi said the strikes had damaged Hezbollah’s combat infrastructure which it had been building for two decades.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant on Monday described the operation as “a significant achievement.”
He added, “This has been the most difficult week for Hezbollah since its founding — the results speak for themselves.”
“The actions earlier in the week resulted in the entire unit being taken out of combat, with a number of militants being injured.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was working to change the “security balance” in the north.
– Hezbollah’s wave of rockets –
Hezbollah, which has been engaged in almost daily exchanges of fire with Israel in support of Hamas, said it was in a “new phase” of the confrontation.
The group said it fired rockets at Israeli military sites and two installations near Haifa in response to Israeli attacks on the south and the Bekaa.
The attack followed an Israeli assault on southern Beirut on Friday that killed its elite Radwan Force commander Ibrahim Aqel, and coordinated communications equipment explosions on Tuesday and Wednesday that killed 39 people and wounded nearly 3,000, which Hezbollah blamed on Israel.
Thousands of people from both sides have fled their homes since cross-border movement between Israel and Hezbollah began in October.
An Israeli military official, who could not be identified further under military rules, said the operation was aimed at “reducing the threat” from Hezbollah, pushing them back from the border, and then destroying infrastructure.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged the United Nations and world powers to stop Israel’s plan to destroy Lebanese villages and towns.
– Guterres ‘deeply concerned’ –
US President Joe Biden, whose country is Israel’s main ally and arms supplier, said his country was “working to de-escalate tensions so people can return home safely”.
The Pentagon said it was sending some additional US military personnel to the Middle East, compared with thousands previously deployed along with warships, fighter jets and air defense systems.
A spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned” by civilian casualties in Lebanon.
The UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon has warned that “further escalation of this dangerous situation could have far-reaching and devastating consequences.”
Turkey said the Israeli attacks threatened to spark “chaos” in the region, while Jordan urged an immediate end to tensions in Lebanon “before it is too late”, reiterating accusations that Israeli actions were fuelling a “wider regional war”.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks and ordered Palestinian medical staff in Lebanon to provide aid to the wounded.
Iran’s newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian accused Israel of trying to “create this wider conflict”.
According to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures, Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 killed 1,205 people, mostly civilians. This includes the killing of hostages.
Of the 251 people taken hostage by the militants, 97 are still in Gaza, 33 of whom the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,455 people, most of them civilians, in Gaza, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which the United Nations has described as reliable.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
