At least 11 killed as Israeli jets launch new airstrikes in Lebanon

By Wassim Seif El Din

BEIRUT (AA) – At least 11 people were killed and four others injured in a series of Israeli airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, the Health Ministry said.

A ministry statement said eight people lost their lives in a strike targeting the southern town of Maarakeh.

Four other people were injured, including one seriously, in the attack.

Another airstrike targeting a building in Ghaziyeh in southern Lebanon left two more people dead, the state news agency NNA reported.

The broadcaster said that efforts were underway to search for survivors under the rubble of the destroyed building.

Another person was killed when fighter jets conducted another strike in Baalbek-Hermel province in eastern Lebanon, NNA said.

Israeli warplanes also renewed airstrikes on the southern suburb of Beirut, but no information was yet available about casualties.

The attacks followed Israeli media reports that a cease-fire deal is expected to be announced between Israel and Hezbollah within two days.

The Israeli public broadcaster KAN, citing an Israeli source, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to a US-backed cease-fire with Lebanon.

The report came one day after US envoy Amos Hochstein on Sunday threatened to withdraw from mediation efforts aimed at brokering a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Lebanon if Tel Aviv does not accept the US proposal, according to Israeli media.

Israel has escalated its airstrikes in Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets as part of year-long warfare against the Lebanese group since the start of the Gaza war last year.

More than 3,600 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon, with more than 15,300 injured and over a million displaced since last October, according to Lebanese health authorities.

Israel this Oct. 1 expanded the conflict by launching a ground assault into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara