At least 492 were killed and 1,645 wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Monday, the Lebanese health ministry said, after the Israeli military said its air strikes had hit more than 1,300 Hezbollah targets in the past 24 hours. Tens of thousands of people are fleeing southern Lebanon "due to Israeli atrocities", Nasser Yassin, the Lebanese minister coordinating the crisis response, said. Read our liveblog to read about how the day's events unfolded.
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Summary:
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Israel launched a widespread wave of air strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, simultaneously targeting the country's south, its eastern Bekaa valley and a southern suburb of Beirut in a strike that targeted senior Hezbollah leader Ali Karaki, who Hezbollah later said had survived.
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The Israeli military said late Monday that its air strikes in Lebanon had hit more than 1,300 Hezbollah targets in the previous 24 hours.
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Lebanon's health ministry said that the Israeli air strikes on Monday killed at least 492 people, including 35 children, and wounded at least 1,246 others.
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The Israeli military called on people in Lebanon to move away from Hezbollah targets and said it was carrying out “extensive and precise” strikes against the group. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued a videotaped warning aimed at Lebanese civilians urging them to heed Israeli calls to evacuate their homes. Thousands of people fled southern Lebanon, jamming highways, including the main route to Beirut.
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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday said that Israel wants to drag the Middle East into a full-blown war by provoking Iran to join the nearly year-old conflict between Israel and Tehran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and warned against the "irreversible" consequences of instability in the Middle East. Pezeshkian was speaking to reporters after his arrival in New York to attend the UN General Assembly.
Yesterday's key developments:
- Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem said on Sunday that the group was ready for all "military possibilities", adding that the confrontation with Israel had become an "open-ended battle of reckoning".
- More than 100 rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon early Sunday, the Israeli army said, with some landing near the northern city of Haifa. Hezbollah earlier claimed it attacked Israeli military production sites in response to blasts earlier this week targeting the group's communications devices.
- Israeli forces raid and shut down Al Jazeera's bureau in the West Bank amid a widening campaign targeting the Qatar-funded broadcaster that covers the ongoing war in Gaza.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP, Reuters)
