It has been confirmed that an Israeli strike in Lebanon has claimed the lives of 40 persons around the eastern city of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley. The attack, according to the country’s health ministry, took place on Wednesday evening when more strikes were witnessed in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
In a conflict that has degenerated for over a year now, Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have exchanged fire for months, which has claimed several lives; the fight between the two nations has gone parallel with the Gaza war. The conflict took a different dimension in September after the Israeli troops exchanged their fire with the bombing of Lebanon’s south and east and making ground raids into border villages.
Despite the statement from the health authority that the attack had claimed 40 lives, the Israeli military did not comment if they were responsible for the attack.
It has been reported that Israel has destroyed the stronghold of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of the capital, Beirut.
The Israeli military had told the residents in the southern suburbs to leave the area to different locations in an order issued on Wednesday. After the order was issued, the military went on to send two bombs across the villages, with one going on Wednesday and the other early on Thursday.
According to a report by Lebanon’s Al Jadeed TV, they claimed that the attack was carried out with at least four strikes that happened on Wednesday. The authorities have not disclosed the number of casualties from the incident in the early hours.
Speaking on the conflict, Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem stated he does not believe political action will be able to end the hostilities that were ravaging the nations. He further noted that the country could engage in a negotiation if the attacks by Israel were stopped.
He explained that when the enemy decides to stop the aggression, a path for negotiations will be clearly defined. He noted that indirect negotiations could occur through the Lebanese state and speaker (of parliament Nabih) Berri.
The |US has made efforts to stop the fighting which has lasted between Israel and Hezbollah. The US, in its proposal, had noted that they wanted a 60-day ceasefire between the nations, which was not agreed upon last week ahead of the US elections held on Tuesday, which led to the victory of Donald Trump back to the white house.
Figures have suggested that more than 3,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon over the last year, with the most casualties killed in the last six weeks after the attacks have intensified.
The Lebanon health ministry disclosed that the 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.
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.
While speaking on the devastation, he noted the rocks that seemed to weigh 100 kilos; they fell on a 13-kilo kid. His demonstration refferd to the level of devastation that was done by the strike that was undertaken by the IDF.
It remained unclear if the strike had targeted the members of Hezbollah, but there were no warnings for evacuation before the raid had happened.
According to Hezbollah on Wednesday, it had fired some missiles at an Israeli military base near Ben Gurion Airport. Israeli media reported a rocket had landed near the airport.
The Israeli military also confirmed that dozens of projectiles had crossed into Israel from Lebanon; according to them, some of them were intercepted by the military.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday appointed Israel Katz as defence minister; the new mister vowed that the military must defeat Hezbollah, which could facilitate the return of the people who have been displaced from northern Israel to their ancestral homes.
Berri, a Hezbollah supporter and diplomatic conversationalist, met the U.S. and Saudi ambassadors to Lebanon on Wednesday to discuss political developments, his office said, without providing further details.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister saluted the U.S. president-elect Donald Trump after he was declared the election winner.
Netanyahu hailed Trump’s election, while senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri expressed that Trump would be tested on his statements that he can stop the Gaza war in hours as president.
