Beirut, MINA – Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported on Monday that at least 31 people were killed and 149 others wounded in Israeli airstrikes targeting southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight, marking one of the deadliest escalations in recent weeks, PIC reports.
Local sources confirmed that six of the fatalities occurred in Beirut’s southern suburbs, while the remaining victims were killed in the southern towns of Al-Sultaniyah, Toul, and Al-Shahabiya. Israeli warplanes launched a series of pre-dawn raids on multiple locations, causing widespread destruction and panic among residents.
Video footage circulating on social media showed extensive damage in the Haret Hreik area of Beirut’s southern suburbs, with entire buildings reduced to rubble and emergency crews working through the night to rescue survivors trapped under debris.
In response to the Israeli attacks, Hezbollah, officially known as the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, announced that it had fired rockets from southern Lebanon toward an Israeli military base south of Haifa. The group later issued a follow-up statement confirming it launched a barrage of precision rockets and drones at the Mishmar HaCarmel missile defense site operated by the Israeli army.
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Hezbollah said the attack was carried out “in defense of Lebanon and its people” and in direct response to ongoing Israeli assaults. The group also described the operation as retaliation for the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in recent Israeli strikes.
The group emphasized that continued Israeli attacks and assassinations over the past 15 months justified what it termed a “legitimate defensive response.”
Hezbollah warned that Israel cannot continue its military campaign without facing consequences, asserting that the strikes were intended to halt the aggression and end what it described as the occupation of Lebanese territory.
The exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah represents a significant expansion of the regional conflict that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran last Saturday. The broader escalation has already resulted in hundreds of casualties across multiple countries, raising fears of a full-scale regional war.
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International observers have expressed deep concern over the widening confrontation, which now threatens to engulf Lebanon after months of relative calm along the border. The United Nations and regional powers have called for restraint, but diplomatic efforts have so far failed to de-escalate the rapidly deteriorating situation.[]
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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