UPDATE 3 – At least 51 killed in fresh Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon

UPDATES DEATH TOLL, ADDS CHANGES

By Rania Abu Shamala and Stephanie Rady

ISTANBUL (AA) – At least 51 people were killed and 223 others injured in fresh Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon on Wednesday, according to Lebanese authorities.

“Around 40,000 people have sought refuge in shelters across the country” amid the ongoing Israeli attacks, Health Minister Firas Abiad told a press conference in the capital Beirut.

The Israeli army launched a new wave of deadly airstrikes across Lebanon on Monday in the latest escalation in its warfare the Hezbollah group.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said four people were killed and 38 others injured in Israeli airstrikes on the Baalbek-Hermel province in eastern Lebanon.

Five more people were killed and 27 others wounded in Israeli attacks in the towns of Tebnine and Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, the ministry added in a statement.

An Israeli airstrike also struck the southern town of Qana, killing three more people and injuring 13 others, the ministry said.

Israeli warplanes also hit the southern town of Joun, killing four people and injuring several others, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Three more people lost their lives and nine others were injured in another airstrike in the town of Maaysrah in Keserwan in northeastern Lebanon, the broadcaster said.

It was the first time for Israeli warplanes to strike Keserwan since the outbreak of cross-border clashes with Hezbollah on Oct. 8 last year.

The area is inhabited by Shias, according to an Anadolu reporter.

The Israeli army said that it struck over 280 Hezbollah-linked targets in Lebanon since Wednesday morning.

The army called up two reserve brigades to the northern border with Lebanon early Wednesday amid its ongoing attacks on the country.

Israel has launched waves of deadly airstrikes in Lebanon since Monday morning, killing nearly 610 people and injuring over 2,000 others, according to Lebanese health authorities.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, which has killed over 41,400 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by Hamas last Oct. 7.

The international community has warned against the strikes on Lebanon, as they raise the specter of spreading the Gaza conflict regionally.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio