Israel has launched an intensive wave of strikes across swathes of southern and eastern Lebanon, after vowing to step up its military action against Hezbollah.
The Israeli military said it hit more than 100 Hezbollah infrastructure sites and fighters during what was one of the heaviest nights of bombardment since a US-brokered ceasefire began in mid-April.
Strikes in the Bekaa Valley village of Mashghara killed 11 people, including two children, Lebanon’s health ministry said. The military said it hit sites where “terrorist activity” was identified.
It came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he had given the instruction to “press the pedal even harder” in targeting Hezbollah.
“The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] is operating with large forces on the ground and seizing dominant terrain,” he said, adding that they were “fortifying the security zone” to protect communities in northern Israel from Hezbollah attacks.
The ceasefire has been repeatedly violated by both sides, threatening to derail the complex ongoing talks to end the war between the US, Israel and Iran.
Israeli air and artillery strikes have continued daily, especially in the south of Lebanon, while Hezbollah has been launching rockets and drones at communities in northern Israel and Israeli troops occupying parts of southern Lebanon.
In Monday’s video statement, Netanyahu said that Israel was going to increase the number and intensity of its strikes targeting Hezbollah in response to the Iran-backed Shia Muslim group’s attacks, including those involving fibre-optic drones that can evade Israeli defences.
“We will deal them a crushing blow,” he vowed.
The announcement prompted scenes of panic in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, where residents were seen fleeing the area following the remarks. Thousands of cars lined the streets with families trying to escape for safety.
Though the overnight strikes spared the capital, Israeli warplanes carried out wave after wave of strikes across Lebanon throughout the evening and into the early hours. The BBC counted dozens of attacks across nearly 50 locations.
A man and his wife were killed in a strike on their home in the southern town of Arab Salim on Monday evening, and two other people were killed in the village of Kauthariyet El Rez, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA).
Overnight, several homes in Mashghara were destroyed in Israeli strikes, according to NNA. Unverified video footage on social media appeared to show streets of destroyed and burning buildings, with fires raging.
The Lebanese health ministry said the bodies of 11 people, among them one woman and two children, were pulled from the rubble. Another 15 people were injured, it added.
The Israeli military also released aerial footage from Mashghara that it said showed several strikes on “Hezbollah infrastructure sites where terrorists activity was identified”. “During the strike the terrorists were eliminated,” it added.
ReutersThe military also said it had struck more than 90 weapons storage facilities, command centres, observation posts and other infrastructure sites used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon overnight.
On Tuesday morning, the military issued new evacuation orders across Lebanon, accusing Hezbollah of violating the terms of a ceasefire between the Israeli and Lebanese governments that came into force on 17 April.
The military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col Avichay Adraee, said Hezbollah’s repeated breaches had left Israeli forces with no choice but to act.
Hezbollah said it targeted three barracks and a military post in northern Israel “in response to the violation of the ceasefire” by Israel.
Netanyahu’s order to intensify the Israeli strikes came after the military said a soldier had been killed in combat in southern Lebanon on Sunday, bringing the total Israeli military losses there from Hezbollah attacks since the conflict began on 2 March to 23, along with one civilian contractor.
The Lebanese health ministry says Israeli strikes over the same period have killed at least 3,185 people.
Additional reporting by Robert Greenall
