11 killed, 11 injured in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon

BEIRUT — Eleven people were killed, and 11 others injured on Saturday in Israeli airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, the official National News Agency (NNA) reported.

According to the NNA, six people from the same family were killed, and 11 others were injured in an Israeli raid on a house in the village of Khreibeh in the eastern Baalbek-Hermel Governorate.

In addition, five employees of the Nabatieh municipality were also killed in an Israeli raid that targeted a municipal warehouse, the report said.

Military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israeli warplanes and drones carried out about 90 raids on Saturday on villages and towns in southern and eastern Lebanon, and Israeli artillery bombarded 16 villages and towns with about 75 shells.

In separate statements on Saturday, Hezbollah announced that it destroyed an Israeli Merkava tank with a guided missile in the village of Chamaa, southern Lebanon, which led to casualties among its crew.

The group added that it targeted with missiles gatherings of Israeli soldiers and vehicles that infiltrated towns in the border area in southern Lebanon, and targeted with rockets several Israeli sites and gatherings in northern Israel, including those in the cities of Acre, Haifa, Safed, and Kiryat Shmona.

Since Sept. 23, the Israeli army has intensified its air attack on Lebanon in an escalation of conflict with Hezbollah. Israel further initiated a ground operation across its northern border into Lebanon in early October.

According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, the death toll from Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon since the beginning of the war on Oct. 8, 2023 reached 3,452, and injuries went up to 14,664.

XINHUA