Israeli forces have killed at least 70 people in Lebanon since Tuesday, 40 of them around the city of Baalbek, the country’s health ministry said.
The latest attacks, at dusk on Thursday, targeted Beirut, marking a sharp escalation in Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah. Al Jadeed TV reported at least four airstrikes. but it was not clear what was hit or if there were casualties.
The Israeli military has not issued a statement on the latest attacks yet.
Israeli forces have been intensely bombing Lebanon since late September and trying to make ground incursions into its southern and eastern regions, where Hezbollah maintains strongholds.
A prime target of the Israeli bombardment since last week has been Baalbek, an ancient heritage city in the eastern Bekaa valley. The Unesco World Heritage city is home to some of the oldest and grandest Roman monuments including the Temple of Bacchus and the Temple of Jupiter.
In response to the bombardment, Hezbollah launched rocket attacks across northern and central Israel, including the capital Tel Aviv, on Wednesday and again early on Thursday.
The Lebanese Civil Defence (LCD) said rescue workers retrieved 30 bodies from the rubble of an apartment building in Barja town that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday night.
It was not known if there were any survivors under the rubble.
The Israeli military has not said why it targeted the apartments.
Moussa Zahran, a resident of the building, was home with his wife and son when the bombs struck. “Something pulled me hard and then the explosion happened,” he said.
Although he couldn’t see much, Mr Zahran said, he started digging through the rubble until he found his wife and son – injured but alive.
Another resident, Muhyiddin Al-Qalaaji, heard about the attack from his wife and rushed home to salvage what remained of their belongings. "There are many dead and injured,” he said.
LCD official Mostafa Danaj confirmed that some people were still missing.
On the other side of the border, a Hezbollah rocket killed a foreign worker near Acre on Wednesday, said the Magen David Adom rescue service. The worker’s nationality was not immediately known.
Hezbollah’s rockets also struck near Tel Aviv and Raanana. One of them landed close to Israel’s main airport but reportedly did not disrupt flight operations. Sirens blared across northern and central Israel earlier in the day, including in the populous metropolitan area of Tel Aviv, after the Lebanese group launched at least 10 rockets.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said he did not believe political action would end the ongoing conflict, though there could be a road to indirect negotiations if Israel stopped its attacks.
"When the enemy decides to stop the aggression, there’s a path for negotiations that we have clearly defined," Mr Qassem said on Wednesday. “Indirect negotiations through the Lebanese state and speaker of parliament Nabih Berri.”
The day before, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sacked defence minister Yoav Gallant, setting off public protests.
Mr Gallant, who had previously clashed with Mr Netanyahu over Gaza negotiations, was replaced by foreign minister Israel Katz.
Thousands of protesters gathered near Israel’s parliament to protest Mr Gallant’s dismissal.
Israeli police said they arrested 40 people during the protests on Tuesday night when the demonstrators blocked Tel Aviv’s main highway.
Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant were repeatedly at odds over Israel’s prosecution of the war on Gaza, but the prime minister had avoided sacking him before the US presidential election on Tuesday which saw former president Donald Trump return to power.
The Israeli war on Gaza has killed some 43,000 Palestinians, over half of them women and children, according to the local Hamas-run health ministry officials.
Israel launched an air and ground assault on the Palestinian territory after Hamas attacked Israel and killed about 1,200 soldiers and civilians in October 2023.
In the 13 months since, Israeli forces have also killed more than 3,000 people and injured 13,500 in Lebanon, the health ministry said.
Hezbollah, on the other hand, has killed at least 73 Israelis, including 30 soldiers.
Additional reporting by agencies.
