Israel strikes south and east after warning more than 40 towns
The Israeli army struck and bombed overnight into Tuesday several towns and villages in south Lebanon after it issued an evacuation warning for more than 40 southern Lebanese towns.
Strikes and shelling hit Jwaya, Beit Yahoun, Jennata, Jmayjmeh, Hanaway, Majdalzoun, Wadi al-Hujair, Zebdine, Deir al-Zahrani, Maarakeh, Yohmor-Shqif, Arab Salim, Tebnine, al-Hosh, Kfardounin, Betoulay, Sreereh, al-Qatrani, Henniyyeh, al-Qlayleh, Tayr Debba, Sultanieh, Ain Baal, Mayfadoun, Barish, Wadi Sinai, Safad al-Battikh, Shaqra, Burj Qalaway, Tebnine, Baraashit and Haddatha. At least five people were killed in the strikes.
Israel also targeted Sohmor in the country's east.
In Beirut's southern suburbs, a restive calm prevailed. On Monday, an Israeli airstrike hit Beer al-Abed in Dahieh, with Israel saying it was "striking Hezbollah terror targets in Beirut", after previously warning it would hit the area.
Shortly before the warning, an AFP journalist in the southern suburbs had seen just a few shops open, as well as a gas station belonging to the Al-Amana fuel company that was destroyed in a previous raid. The Israeli army had announced targeting Al-Amana stations recently that were "controlled by Hezbollah".
Fresh portraits mourning Iran's former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the U.S.-Israeli attacks on February 28 that triggered the war, were also visible along some roads.
The latest attacks came a day after the first reported strike on the town of Ain Saadeh, east of Beirut, which killed three people including Pierre Mouawad, a local official in the Lebanese Forces, a Christian party strongly opposed to Hezbollah, and his wife.
Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces, said on Monday that "the Israelis were targeting a member of the Quds Force", the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations arm, but he did not seem to have been killed.
Israel's military said it had struck a "terrorist target" east of Beirut and was reviewing the incident after "reports of casualties among Lebanese civilians not involved in the fighting".
In a statement, the Lebanese army said its investigation showed there were "no new tenants" in the targeted building.
"While it was discovered that a person was seen leaving the building on a motorcycle immediately after the attack, the investigation is ongoing to determine his identity and uncover further details."
Later on Monday, the Israeli military issued the evacuation warning for more than 40 southern Lebanese towns.
Hezbollah announced attacks on Israeli targets in south Lebanon and across the border, including launching an advanced missile and attack drones at a base near the central city of Hadera.
Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli attack killed a paramedic from the Hezbollah-allied Risala Scouts association on Monday.
It also said two paramedics from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee were killed in an Israeli strike a day earlier.
Lebanon says 1,497 people have been killed since the war erupted, including 57 health workers.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that the WHO "has verified 92 attacks on health facilities, medical vehicles, personnel, and warehouses".
"These acts cannot become the new norm," he added.
On Sunday, a strike in the capital's Jnah neighborhood hit near the country's largest public medical facility, killing five, the ministry said.
Israel's military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir visited troops in southern Lebanon on Sunday and pledged to intensify strikes against Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, Lebanon's main border crossing with Syria has remained closed since Israel threatened to strike it two days prior.
Ahmad Tamer, head of land and maritime transportation at the Lebanese transport ministry, told AFP that the crossing would be closed "until we receive reassurances that it would not be hit".
Source: Agence France Presse
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