3 weeks ago
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Lebanon today suffered one of its bloodiest days of the war as authorities there said at least 60 people were killed in a series of Israeli air strikes which sparked ‘a ring of fire’.
Two children were among the dead following the aerial attacks which targeted some 16 areas in the Baalbek region, local officials said.
The country’s beleaguered Health Ministry said 58 people were also wounded in the strikes which were mainly focused on Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley.
Officials said desperate rescue efforts were still under way in the valley, which is known to be a Hezbollah stronghold.
The attacks also came on the day the Lebanese proscribed terror group announced it has appointed its formerly deputy secretary-general Sheikh Naim Kassem as its new leader.
But on the ground, the devastation from Israel’s ongoing attacks continued.
Baalbek governor Bachie Khodr branded the latest strikes the "most violent" in the area since Israel escalated the conflict against Hezbollah last month.
Unverified video posted on social media showed damage to buildings and forests ablaze, as rescuers searched for the injured.
In the town of Boudai, videos on social media appeared to show residents pleading for heavy equipment to be sent to help rescue people believed to be trapped.
The regional head of Baalbek's Civil Defence crews said that the air strikes were like a "ring of fire".
“It was a very violent night," Bilal Raad said.
"It was like a ring of fire has suddenly surrounded the area."
He added the attacks had targeted "residential quarters where civilians live or near them", and said a lack of equipment had hampered search and rescue efforts.
The town of Al-Allaq was hardest hit with 16 people killed, all from the same family, he said.
The Israeli military has not yet commented.
But Jerusalem’s forces have carried out thousands of air strikes across Lebanon over the past five weeks, targeting what it has says are Hezbollah's operatives, infrastructure and weapons.
Earlier, Israeli air strikes on the coastal city of Tyre left seven dead and 17 injured, Lebanon's health ministry said. Israel issued a warning for people to leave the centre of the city.
Hezbollah said it clashed with Israeli troops near Lebanon's southern border on Monday and fired rockets at a naval base inside Israel near Haifa.
Cross-border hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah broke out after the armed Lebanese group started firing rockets in and around northern Israel in support of Palestinians on 8 October 2023, the day after its ally Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel.
The Lebanese health ministry says more than 2,700 people have been killed and more than 12,400 wounded in Lebanon since then.
Israel invaded southern Lebanon in a dramatic escalation on 30 September to destroy, it said, Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure in “limited, localised, targeted raids”.
Lebanon's government says up to 1.3 million people have been internally displaced as a result of the conflict.
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