By Wassim Seifeddine
BEIRUT (AA) – At least one person was killed and two others were injured on Sunday morning after a series of intense Israeli airstrikes targeted various areas in southern Lebanon, health officials said.
Israeli drones struck a car in the Khiam area, and Israeli warplanes conducted two raids on the outskirts of Zibkin, the Lebanese National News Agency reported, citing sources.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said in a statement that one person was killed in an Israeli drone strike on a car in the town of Khaim in southern Lebanon.
Two people were injured in other Israeli strikes, the ministry said, adding that one person received minor injuries and is being treated in an emergency room, while a Syrian national sustained moderate injuries and required hospitalization.
Israeli artillery also targeted areas in Shebaa and the town of Al-Dahira in Tyre's western sector.
Earlier on Sunday, Israeli warplanes launched over 40 airstrikes on southern Lebanon, the most severe attack since the conflict began on October 8, 2023. The Israeli army referred to the massive air raid as a "preemptive strike," claiming that it prevented an impending Hezbollah attack before it began.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah reported launching 320 rockets at Israeli military targets as the initial phase of its response to the July assassination of its commander, Fouad Shukr, by Israel.
Since October 8, 2023, Lebanon’s Hezbollah has been engaged in daily exchanges of fire with the Israeli army across the Blue Line, resulting in hundreds of casualties, mostly on the Lebanese side.
The escalation comes against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 40,300 Palestinians since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas incursion. The military campaign has reduced much of the territory to rubble and left most of the people homeless, hungry and prone to disease.
* Writing by Ikram Kouachi