Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed 40 people around the eastern city of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley on Wednesday, according to the country’s health ministry, and at dusk more strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have exchanged fire for over a year in parallel with the Gaza war but fighting has escalated since late September, with Israeli troops intensifying bombing of Lebanon’s south and east and making ground incursions into border villages.
U.S. diplomatic efforts to halt fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which included a 60-day ceasefire proposal, faltered last week ahead of the U.S. election on Tuesday in which former President Donald Trump recaptured the White House.
RESCUERS DIG FOR SURVIVORS
More than 3,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon over the last year, the vast majority in the past six weeks.
Lebanese rescuers scoured a destroyed apartment building in the town of Barja, south of Beirut, for bodies or survivors after an Israeli strike on Tuesday evening killed 20 people there, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
Moussa Zahran, who lived on one of the upper floors of the building, returned to sift through the ruins of his home. His burned feet were wrapped in gauze and his son and wife were in hospital after being wounded in the strike.
“These rocks that you see here weigh 100 kilos; they fell on a 13-kilo kid,” he said, referring to his son and the apartment wall that collapsed on him during the strike.
It was not clear whether the strike targeted a member of Hezbollah. There was no evacuation warning ahead of the air raid.
Hezbollah said on Wednesday it had fired missiles at an Israeli military base near Ben Gurion Airport. Israeli media reported a rocket had landed near the airport.
Later, the Israeli military said dozens of projectiles had crossed into Israel from Lebanon, some of which were intercepted.
Efforts to bring a diplomatic end to the conflict have stalled. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday appointed Israel Katz as defence minister, who vowed to defeat Hezbollah so people displaced from northern Israel could return home.