Israel expanded its targets in its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon on Monday, killing at least 21 people in an airstrike in the north, health officials said, while millions of Israelis took shelter from projectiles fired back across the border. So far, the main focus of Israel’s military operations in Lebanon has been in the Bekaa Valley in the east, the suburbs of Beirut and in the south, where incidents involving Israeli troops and UN peacekeepers have created tension.
The UN Security Council on Monday expressed strong concern after several peacekeeping positions in southern Lebanon came under fire amid clashes between the Israeli military and Hezbollah.
The strike in the Christian-majority northern town of Aitou hit a house that had been rented to displaced families, the town’s mayor Joseph Trad told Reuters. In addition to the deaths, eight people were injured, the Lebanese health ministry said.
Rescue workers at the site of the strike searched through piles of rubble on Monday, where burned vehicles and trees could be seen strewn across the ground. Israel ordered residents of 25 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate to areas north of the Awali River, which flows some 60 km north of the Israeli frontier.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting a military base in central Israel where four soldiers were killed on Sunday by a Hezbollah drone strike, said Israel would continue to attack the movement “without mercy, everywhere in Lebanon – including Beirut”. In central Israel, residents rushed to shelters as sirens sounded. The military said three projectiles that had crossed from Lebanon had been intercepted. No injuries were reported.
The Israeli military said about 115 projectiles fired by Hezbollah crossed from Lebanon into Israel on Monday. The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah resumed a year ago when the group began firing rockets at Israel in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war.
It has escalated sharply in recent weeks, with Israel saying its operations are aimed at securing the return of tens of thousands of people displaced from their homes in northern Israel. Israeli military operations in northern Gaza have also increased, with Israeli forces killing at least 10 people while they were queuing for food in Jabalia, according to Palestinians medics.
Source: BBC
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