Israeli airstrikes kill more than 350 in Lebanon – NBC New York

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon on Monday killed more than 350 people, including more than 60 women and children, Lebanese authorities said, in the deadliest shelling since Israel’s 2006 war with Hezbollah. The Israeli military warned residents of southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate ahead of an expanding air campaign against Hezbollah.

Thousands of Lebanese fled the south, and a major highway from the southern port city of Sidon was clogged with cars heading toward Beirut, the largest exodus since 2006.

Lebanon’s health ministry said the attacks killed 356 people, including 24 children and 42 women, and injured 1,246, a staggering single-day toll for a country still reeling from last week’s deadly attack on communications facilities.

The death toll far exceeded that of the devastating 2020 Beirut port explosion, when hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse exploded, killing at least 218 people and injuring more than 6,000.

In a recorded message, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Lebanese civilians to heed Israeli calls to evacuate, saying “take this warning seriously.”

“Please move out of the way of danger now,” Netanyahu said. “When our operation is over, you will be able to return safely to your homes.”

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israeli warplanes attacked 1,300 Hezbollah targets on Monday, destroying cruise missiles, rockets loaded with heavy explosives, long- and short-range rockets and attack drones.

He added that many of them were hidden in residential areas, showing photos of weapons he said were hidden in private homes.

“Hezbollah has turned southern Lebanon into a war zone,” he told a news conference.

Israel estimates that Hezbollah has some 150,000 rockets and missiles, including guided missiles and long-range projectiles that can strike anywhere in Israel.

Earlier Monday evening, the Israeli military said it had carried out a targeted attack in Beirut. It did not provide details. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the Beir al-Abed neighborhood in southern Beirut was hit by three shells. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television reported that six people were wounded.

Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad told a news conference that earlier strikes had hit hospitals, medical centers and ambulances. The government has ordered schools and universities closed in much of the country and is preparing shelters for displaced people.

Some strikes hit residential areas in the southern and eastern Bekaa Valley. One hit a forested area as far away as Byblos in central Lebanon, more than 80 miles (130 kilometers) from the border north of Beirut.

The military said it was expanding airstrikes to cover areas of the valley along Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria. Hezbollah has long had an established presence in the valley, where the group was founded in 1982 with the help of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said Israel was preparing the “next phases” of operations against Hezbollah and that its airstrikes were “proactive,” targeting Hezbollah infrastructure built over the past 20 years.

The explosion came a day after reports of pager bombings emerged in the country.

Halevi said further details would be released in the near future, and the goal is to allow displaced Israelis to return to their homes in northern Israel.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it fired dozens of rockets into Israel, including at military bases. On a second day, it targeted facilities of the Haifa-based defense contractor Rafael.

While Israel was carrying out the attacks, Israeli authorities reported a series of alert signals in northern Israel warning of rocket fire from Lebanon.

The evacuation warnings were the first of their kind in nearly a year of steadily escalating conflict and came after a particularly heavy exchange of fire on Sunday. Hezbollah fired some 150 rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in retaliation for attacks that killed a senior commander and dozens of fighters.

The increasingly frequent attacks and counterattacks have raised fears of all-out war, even as Israel battles Hamas in the Gaza Strip and tries to negotiate the release of many hostages taken in an Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Hezbollah has vowed to continue attacks in solidarity with Hamas, another Iranian-backed militant group.

Associated Press journalists from southern Lebanon reported that intensive airstrikes took place on Monday morning in many areas, including those far from the border.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that airstrikes had taken place in the central province of Byblos for the first time since the talks began.

Israel also bombed targets in the northeastern regions of Baalbek and Hermel, where a shepherd was killed and two of his relatives were wounded, the news agency reported, adding that a total of 30 people were wounded.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health has asked hospitals in southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley to postpone non-urgent surgeries so that they remain ready to treat those injured in the “spreading Israeli aggression against Lebanon.”

An Israeli military official said Israel was focusing on air operations and had no immediate plans for a ground operation. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the strikes were aimed at limiting Hezbollah’s ability to carry out further attacks on Israel.

Residents received text messages saying: “If you are in a building where Hezbollah weapons are stored, leave the village until further notice,” Lebanese media reported.

Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary said his office in Beirut received a recorded message telling people to leave the building.

“This is part of the psychological warfare waged by the enemy,” Makary said, calling on people “not to give this matter more attention than it deserves.”

Communities on both sides of the border have been almost completely depopulated due to almost daily exchanges of gunfire.

Israel has accused Hezbollah of turning entire communities in the south into militant bases, with hidden rocket launchers and other infrastructure. That could lead the Israeli military to carry out an especially heavy bombing campaign even if no ground forces intervene.

On Friday, an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of Beirut killed a top Hezbollah military commander and more than a dozen fighters, as well as dozens of civilians, including women and children.

Last week, thousands of communication devices, used mainly by Hezbollah members, exploded in various parts of Lebanon, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000, many of them civilians. Lebanon blamed Israel, but Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.

Hezbollah began firing into Israel the day after the Oct. 7 attack, saying it was trying to pressure Israeli forces to help Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip. Israel responded with airstrikes, and the conflict continued to escalate.

Israel has vowed to push Hezbollah away from the border so its citizens can return home. Hezbollah has said it will continue attacks until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza, but that seems increasingly elusive as the war approaches its anniversary.

Hamas-led militants entered southern Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250. About 100 captives remain held in the Gaza Strip, a third of them presumed dead, after most of the rest were freed during a week-long ceasefire in November.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters. It says women and children make up just over half of those killed. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.