Nearly 50 killed in Lebanon fresh Israeli strikes

Lebanon’s health ministry on Sunday said Israeli strikes killed nearly 50 more people, after Israel’s military said it kept up its bombardment of Hezbollah targets there and also struck Yemen.

The bombing comes after an air strike on Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs on Friday killed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group which has been engaged in cross-border fire with Israel for almost a year.

Hezbollah says it is acting in support of Hamas militants in Gaza, who attacked Israel on October 7, triggering the war in the Palestinian territory.

After Israel turned its focus north from Gaza to Lebanon and cross-border fire escalated, Israeli attacks have killed hundreds since last Monday, the deadliest day since Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war.

The Lebanese health ministry said preliminary tolls showed 24 killed and 29 wounded in an Israeli strike near the main southern city of Sidon Sunday.

It later reported that Israeli air raids on the Baalbek-Hemel area of eastern Lebanon “killed 21 people and wounded 47,” another provisional toll.

Four more died in a raid targeting Joub Jenin in the Bekaa area, the ministry said.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot arrived in Lebanon Sunday, his ministry said.
He spoke earlier with Prime Minister Najib Mikati and said Paris sought “an immediate halt” to Israeli strikes.

France also appealed for Hezbollah and its backer Iran to abstain from any action that could lead to “regional conflagration”.

Pope Francis, asked about Israeli air strikes on civilians, said a country “goes beyond morality” when defence is not proportional to the attack.

A source close to Hezbollah said Nasrallah’s body was found on Saturday “and was placed in a shroud on Sunday after being washed”.

Funeral details have not yet been arranged, the source said, requesting anonymity.

Israeli bombardment has killed more than 700 people in a week, including 14 paramedics over a two-day period, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

AFPTV live images on Sunday afternoon showed smoke rising beyond palm trees in the coastal city of Tyre, and more smoke across a bay.

Israel’s military said late Sunday it hit 120 Hezbollah targets, after earlier reporting dozens more.

Hezbollah said it had again fired rockets on the northern Israeli town of Safed.

It also reported firing “a volley of Fadi-1” rockets at an Israeli base in the Golan Heights. Israel reported several launches from Lebanon fell in unpopulated areas near the Israeli-annexed territory.

Nasrallah was the face of Hezbollah, enjoying cult status among his supporters.

UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said “well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon” and more than 50,000 have fled to neighbouring Syria.

Premier Mikati said up to one million people may have been forced from their homes, in potentially the “largest displacement movement” in Lebanon’s history.