Twenty-three Syrian refugees were killed in Lebanon after an Israeli airstrike destroyed a building housing workers, Lebanon’s state-run news agency reported Thursday.
State-run National News Agency quoted the village’s mayor Ali Kassas as saying that the bodies of 23 Syrian citizens were pulled out from under the rubble, adding that four other Syrians and four Lebanese were wounded in the same airstrike late Wednesday in the village of Younine.
Israel’s military chief said Wednesday they were preparing for a possible ground operation in Lebanon as Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets into Israel.
Later Wednesday, the United States, France and other allies jointly called for an “immediate” 21-day cease-fire to allow for negotiations as fears grow that the violent escalation in recent days — following 11 months of cross-border exchange of fire — could grow into an all-out war.
The Lebanese health minister said Israeli strikes killed more than 72 people Wednesday. That raised the death toll since Monday to more than 630, with more than 2,000 people wounded, and thousands in southern Lebanon seeking refuge.
The United Nations says over 90,000 people have been displaced by five days of Israeli strikes on Lebanon, bringing the total to 200,000 people who have been displaced in Lebanon since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Hamas after it stormed into Israel, sparking the Israel-Hamas war.
Here’s the latest:
BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike on a village in northeast Lebanon destroyed a building housing Syrian workers, killing 23 of them and wounding another eight people.
State-run National News Agency quoted the village’s mayor Ali Kassas as saying that the bodies of 23 Syrian citizens were pulled out from under the rubble, adding that four other Syrians and four Lebanese were wounded in the same airstrike late Wednesday in the village of Younine, just north of the ancient city of Baalbek in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley that borders Syria.
The Lebanese Red Cross said it evacuated the bodies of nine people following the airstrike. Others were taken by Hezbollah’s paramedic arm as well as the Lebanese Civil Defense, NNA said.
A country of about 6 million people, Lebanon hosts nearly 780,000 registered Syrian refugees and hundreds of thousands who are unregistered — the world’s highest refugee population per capita.
TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military says it struck 75 sites overnight across southern and eastern Lebanon, part of a punishing air campaign in response to Hezbollah rocket fire.
The military said Thursday it was targeting Hezbollah military infrastructure, including weapons storage facilities and rocket launchers. Around half a dozen Israelis have been wounded in the latest escalation.
Israel strikes have killed more than 630 people in Lebanon since Monday, about a quarter of them women and children. Hezbollah has fired hundreds of projectiles towards Israel over the past week, including a surface-to-surface missile toward Tel Aviv that was intercepted Wednesday.
The Israeli military said around 45 projectiles were fired from Lebanon on Thursday, all of them either intercepted or falling in open areas. There were no reports of casualties or damage.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza, hoping to pin down Israeli forces. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are close allies of Iran.
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