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  • Sep.
  • 2024

274 Killed, 1,024 Wounded in Israel's Large-Scale Air Offensive on Lebanon

modified on 26 Sep. 2024 à 05:43 Read : 15 minute(s) A A A
This Is Beirut
274 Killed, 1,024 Wounded in Israel's Large-Scale Air Offensive on Lebanon
The Israeli army issued a new warning on Monday, this time to the inhabitants of the Bekaa, in east Lebanon, urging them to leave areas close to where Hezbollah stores weapons.

Its Arabic-speaking spokesman, Avichay Adraee, gave them a two-hour ultimatum. He specified that this was “a targeted warning."

The raids, as part of an open Israeli air offensive on Lebanon for the past three days, are the most violent since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, and have triggered a huge exodus to safer areas.



According to the latest toll announced by the Ministry of Public Health, 274 people have been killed, including 21 children and 39 women, and 1,024 wounded since Monday morning in a spate of airstrikes that rained down missiles and fire on a large number of towns and villages in the south and east of Lebanon.

Among the victims were two Hezbollah clerics, Ali Abou Raya and Mohammad Saleh. However, their deaths have not been confirmed by the pro-Iranian group.

Caretaker outgoing Minister of the Interior, Bassam Mawlawi, later announced the opening of public schools and technical facilities to accommodate the displaced until further notice. He announced that he had given instructions to this effect to the governors of the various regions.

Earlier reports said the casualties included three in Toul and five in the village of Barich. In this village in the caza of Tyre, seven people were in a house hit by Israeli aircraft. Four other people, including a child, were taken to the government hospital in Tebnine, although it was not specified where they were killed.

The raids extended to the southern villages of Saïda and Machghara, in the Western side of the Bekaa valley. In response, Hezbollah launched several salvos of rockets against Galilee.

The strikes also hit targets deeper into Lebanese territory, all the way from southern Lebanon to the eastern Bekaa, Baalbeck and the outskirts of Hermel, more than100 kilometers from the border.



According to Israeli army Arabic-speaking spokesman, Avichay Adraee “more than 300 Hezbollah targets have been raided in Lebanon” on Monday morning.

Earlier this morning, the Israeli army declared that it had begun “striking terrorist targets throughout Lebanon” after “indications that Hezbollah was preparing to fire towards Israeli territory.” Adraee, announced

Addressing southerners, Adraee asked them to evacuate their homes, claiming that they serve as weapons caches for Hezbollah, and warned that these civilian locations will be the target of attacks.

He also told them that “Hezbollah lies to you and sacrifices you by making you believe that it is defending you, yet it seems that its missiles and drones are more important than you”.

The Israeli warning triggered an exodus of residents of the south to safer areas.

A Hezbollah source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told AFP that the strikes in the Bekaa Valley targeted the area from east to west.



Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also took to social media on Monday to share that he had a conversation with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. According to Gallant, the two men discussed Hezbollah threats and Austin was briefed on the Israeli army’s efforts to hinder Hezbollah’s capacity to target Israeli civilians.

Earlier on the Ground

At dawn on Monday, one civilian was killed and six others wounded, including two members of the same family, in an Israeli raid targeting Bodai in Hermel.

In South Lebanon, a 14-year-old child was slightly wounded in the locality of Mahrouna and was taken to hospital for treatment. In addition, more than 80 Israeli strikes in less than half an hour targeted Nabatiye.

The Ministry of Public Health's emergency operations center said a raid on the town of Aïtaroun had wounded eleven people, including one in intensive care, six who had to be hospitalized and four who were treated in the emergency room. The Ministry also reported that three people were injured in a raid on Aïnata.

Also on the ground, three raids targeted Mays el-Jabal. The morning salvo of air strikes targeted the localities of Taybeh, Al-Salouki, Markaba, Houla, Aïta el-Chaab, Maroun el-Ras, Al-Abbasiya, Mays el-Jabal, Rayhan Heights, Kfar Rahman, Bourj Rahal, Bani Hayan, Al-Khiam, Kfar Kila and the outskirts of Numairiya.

Unusually, a rocket fell in Al-Wardiyat, near the town of Ehmej, in the mountainous region of Jbeil in north Lebanon, but no casualties were reported, the rocket falling in a rocky, uninhabited area.

 



 





The Israeli airstrikes inflicted significant damage to properties and crops, notably impacting banana and citrus orchards in the Qulaylah, Mansouri and Ain Abu Abdullah plains in Tyre. Furthermore, nearby shops, particularly those situated along the road to the town of Abbasiyah, also suffered damage as a result of the attacks.

According to Al Arabiya, text messages were sent to Lebanese phones urging residents to stay away from Hezbollah weapons. Reuters reports that some residents in south Lebanon have been receiving calls from what appears to be a Lebanese number warning them to move at least 1,000 meters from any Hezbollah position.

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