The airstrikes caused damage in Beirut’s southern suburbs and in the eastern city of Baalbek in the Bekaa region, where the Israeli military said it was targeting Hezbollah positions.
CreditCredit...Associated Press

Deadly Israeli Strikes Pound Lebanon, Health Ministry Says

The deadliest strikes hit the Bekaa Valley, which is home to the historic city of Baalbek, overnight.

by · NY Times

An Israeli attack on a coastal city in southern Lebanon killed at least three people on Thursday, the Lebanese health ministry said, after airstrikes killed dozens of people in and around the historic city of Baalbek in the country’s east.

The strikes come as Israel has widened its campaign against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, from its initial focus on border villages in southern Lebanon to urban areas across the country, which is half the size of Vermont.

Israel’s military said on Thursday that it had struck more than 110 sites in Gaza and Lebanon over the past day, including 20 sites in and around Baalbek. The strike on the coastal city of Sidon, which was not included in that tally, injured three people in addition to the three it killed, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

The night before, the ministry said, at least 40 people were killed in Baalbek, which is famous for its towering Roman ruins, and the broader Bekaa Valley that surrounds it. Attacks in other parts of the country killed another 36 people on Wednesday, the ministry added.

Baalbek was home to around 80,000 people before Israel’s military launched its assault and ground invasion aimed at crippling Hezbollah. While the city was largely spared during the early weeks of the campaign, Israeli military warnings in late October prompted much of its population to flee.

Since then, Israel’s military has repeatedly struck Baalbek. On Thursday morning, Israel’s military said it had struck around 20 targets tied to Hezbollah around the city and north of the Litani river in southern Lebanon.

Damaged cars and debris near the ancient Roman temple in Baalbek on Thursday.
Credit...Ed Ram/Getty Images

It also said that it had struck Hezbollah “command centers and terrorist infrastructure sites” near Beirut overnight. Residents reported hearing at least four large airstrikes near the Lebanese capital and smoke was seen rising over the Dahiya, an area south of Beirut where Hezbollah holds sway.

One hit so close to the international airport in the capital that stones fell on a runway, according to local news reports. Lebanon’s transport minister, Ali Hamieh, said on Thursday that the airport was operating normally.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since October of last year — most in the months since Israel ramped up its campaign against Hezbollah. More than 1.2 million people — a fifth of the country’s population — have fled their homes, according to the Lebanese government.

Here’s what else is happening in the Middle East:

  • Polio vaccinations: The United Nations said it completed the second round of its polio vaccination campaign in Gaza on Wednesday. The second dose of the vaccine was given to more than 556,774 children under the age of ten, which amounted to about 94 percent of the campaign’s goal, according to the United Nations. It called the vaccination rate “a remarkable achievement given the extremely difficult circumstances” created by the war.
  • Medical evacuations: The World Health Organization said on Thursday that it had carried out the largest medical evacuation since the start of war in the Gaza Strip, with 229 patients and their escorts traveling from the enclave to Romania and the United Arab Emirates. The patients, who left Gaza on Wednesday, included 38 children and 52 adults, including 37 people with cancer.
  • Israeli deportations: Israel’s Parliament passed a law on Wednesday allowing the deportation of parents, children, and spouses of convicted terrorists if they are believed to have known about an attack in advance without informing the authorities. The law authorizes the Interior Minister to deport those relatives to Gaza or another “specified destination.” Widely seen as targeting Israel’s Palestinian minority, the law was condemned as discriminatory by Rawhi Fattouh, a Palestinian leader in the West Bank.

Our Coverage of the Middle East Crisis