UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS, ADDS CHANGES
By Mohammed Ragawi
BEIRUT (AA) - Six women and children from the same family were killed and eight others injured in an Israeli drone attack on the Nabi Anam neighborhood in Baalbek, eastern Lebanon, according to Lebanese media reports on Monday.
The state-run National News Agency said Israeli warplanes carried out the strike at 5.50 am local time (0250GMT), targeting a home in a densely populated residential area.
The strike destroyed the building and damaged nearby homes, resulting in the deaths of six women and children from the same family, with eight other residents sustaining injuries ranging from critical to minor, the news agency said.
The injured were transported to hospitals for treatment, it added.
The agency reported that local civil defense teams worked to extinguish fires at the targeted home and assisted in rescue operations, recovering the bodies from under the rubble.
Volunteers from the Islamic Health Authority, the Lebanese Red Cross, and the Palestinian Shifa Association also participated in the search and rescue efforts, it added.
Israeli warplanes also hit a building in the central commercial district of Baalbek on Sunday evening, causing extensive damage to nearby buildings, shops, and institutions, according to the broadcaster.
In another airstrike early Monday, Israeli warplanes targeted the town of Hazzine in the same region. No details were provided about injuries or damage.
Israeli artillery shelling and airstrikes were also reported in the towns of Khiam, Jabal Abuo Rached, Wadi al-Sarira and Ansar in southern Lebanon.
Israel has mounted a huge air campaign in Lebanon since Sept. 23 against what it says are Hezbollah targets, in an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and the Lebanese group since the start of Israel’s brutal offensive on Gaza.
Nearly 2,500 people have been killed and more than 11,500 others injured in Israeli attacks since last year, according to Lebanese health authorities.
Israel expanded the conflict on Oct. 1 this year by launching a ground assault into southern Lebanon.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul