UPDATES CASUALTIES; ADDS DETAILS; CHANGES HEAD, DECK, LEDE
By Anadolu staff
At least six people were killed Friday in Israeli airstrikes that hit multiple areas in southern and eastern Lebanon, according to Lebanon's official news agency.
The Lebanese Civil Defense Directorate reported that its teams retrieved the bodies of four victims from the rubble in Nabatieh province, reported the agency.
In the southern governorate, search and rescue teams recovered the bodies of two more victims following another Israeli strike, while efforts to recover missing individuals beneath the debris continue, it added.
The Lebanese National News Agency also reported that the Israeli army bombed the Old Mosque in the town of Majdal Selm in the southern district of Tyre.
No further details were provided.
- Hezbollah missile, drone strikes
Separately, the Hezbollah group claimed responsibility for a major missile barrage targeting the northern settlement of Zevulun near Haifa.
According to Hezbollah, the strike involved a “large salvo of missiles” launched from Lebanon.
The Israeli army also reported that 15 rockets were fired from the Lebanese territory into the Galilee region of northern Israel.
It added that two drones were intercepted after their launch from Lebanon towards Ras al-Naqoura and Western Galilee.
The extent of the damage and casualties remains unclear.
Israel dramatically escalated its massive bombing campaign across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing at least 1,437 people, injuring over 4,123 others, and displacing more than 1.34 million people.
The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of its offensive on the Gaza Strip, in which Israel has killed more than 42,400 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.
Despite international warnings that the Mideast was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, it expanded the conflict on Oct. 1 by launching an incursion into southern Lebanon.
*Writing by Ikram Kouachi