BEIRUT (Reuters): Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed 40 people around the eastern city of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley on Wednesday, according to the country’s health ministry, and at dusk more strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have exchanged fire for over a year in parallel with the Gaza war but fighting has escalated since late September, with Israeli troops intensifying bombing of Lebanon’s south and east and making ground incursions into border villages.
Israeli strikes on Baalbek and the Bekaa Valley killed 40 people and wounded 53, the health ministry said. The Israeli military did not comment.
Israel has repeatedly battered strongholds of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut.
The Israeli military ordered residents in the southern suburbs to evacuate several locations on Wednesday. Two waves of bombing followed, one late Wednesday and another early Thursday.
Lebanon’s Al Jadeed TV reported there were at least four strikes on Thursday. There was no immediate report of casualties or details on what was hit.
Hezbollah secretary general Naim Qassem on Wednesday said he did not believe that political action would bring an end to hostilities.
He said there could be a road to indirect negotiations if Israel stopped its attacks.
“When the enemy decides to stop the aggression, there is a path for negotiations that we have clearly defined – indirect negotiations through the Lebanese state and speaker (of parliament Nabih) Berri,” Qassem said.
U.S. diplomatic efforts to halt fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which included a 60-day ceasefire proposal, faltered last week ahead of the U.S. election on Tuesday in which former President Donald Trump recaptured the White House.
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