Beirut. Lebanon’s Health Ministry has claimed that 51 people were killed and 223 injured in the ongoing Israeli air strikes in Lebanon. According to news agency Xinhua, the ministry confirmed the casualties on Wednesday in several places including Bint Jbeil, Ain Kana, Qabrikha and Tebnine in southern and eastern Lebanon. Military sources told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that Israeli fighter jets targeted about 90 villages and towns in southern and eastern Lebanon. The casualties also include Kamel Karak, a photojournalist for Lebanese Al-Manar TV, who was killed in an attack in the southeastern village of Kantara. Meanwhile, local media also reported at least seven people killed and 16 injured in attacks near Beirut, including three deaths in Maisarah, northeast of the capital, and four in Joun in the Chouf district.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that Hezbollah fired a surface-to-surface missile at Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning, setting off sirens in the city and surrounding areas. The IDF said it intercepted the missile using a David’s Sling defense system, with no casualties or damage reported. The army further said it destroyed a Hezbollah launcher in Nafakhiyah in southern Lebanon. The IDF said in a statement that it had called up two reserve ground brigades to the Israel-Lebanon border following a “situational assessment”, adding that the troops would be deployed for “operational activities on the northern front”. The deployment will “enable the continuation of the struggle against Hezbollah, defend Israel and create conditions for residents of northern Israel to return to their homes”.
The escalation in violence came after Israeli bombing on Monday and Tuesday, the most extensive Israeli attack on Lebanon since 2006. More than 550 people have been killed and nearly 1,800 injured in Lebanon in the two-day attacks, official figures show. Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Mohammed Qubaisi and five others were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Tuesday, according to the Shi’ite militant group. Cross-border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah have been ongoing since October 8, 2023, following Hamas’s attack on southern Israel.