Israel expands bombing with 12 airstrikes on Lebanon

Tel Aviv. Israel on Saturday expanded its bombing of Lebanon, hitting the southern suburbs of Beirut with 12 airstrikes, in addition to hitting a Palestinian refugee camp in the north of the country for the first time, in an attack against Hezbollah and Hamas fighters.

Tens of thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the conflict in the region, while marches were held around the world to mark the anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza.

The attack on the Beddawi refugee camp, near the northern city of Tripoli, killed a leader of Hamas’s military wing, as well as his wife and young daughters, the Palestinian insurgent group said in a statement. Hamas later reported that another member of its military wing was killed in an Israeli attack in the Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon.

Israeli forces say they have killed several officers from Hamas’s military wing in Lebanon, where the intensity of fighting has increased in recent weeks. Israel has killed several Hamas officers there since the start of the war against the insurgent group, as well as most of the top leaders of the political-paramilitary group Hezbollah.

Plumes of smoke dominated the skyline of the populated southern suburbs of Beirut, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. Israel claims its attacks are aimed at Hezbollah commanders and military equipment, and that their goal is to drive the group away from their mutual border.

Some 1,400 people, including Hezbollah fighters and civilians, have been killed and around 1.2 million have had to flee their homes in less than two weeks.

Hezbollah, Lebanon’s most powerful armed force which is also backed by Iran, began launching rockets into Israel almost immediately after the Hamas attack on October 7, saying it was a show of support for the Palestinians. Hezbollah and the Israeli army have exchanged fire almost daily.

Last week, Israel launched what it called a limited ground operation in southern Lebanon, following a series of attacks that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others. Nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in intense ground clashes in which, according to Israel, 250 Hezbollah fighters have been killed.

The Israeli army reported on Saturday that some 90 projectiles had been fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Most of them were intercepted, but some fell in the Arab city of Deir al-Asad, in the north of the country, where three people suffered minor injuries, police reported.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters in Damascus that “we are trying to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.” The minister did not mention the countries that have presented initiatives, and said that among them there are states from the region and some that are not from the Middle East.

Araghchi made the remarks a day after Iran’s supreme leader praised that country’s recent missile attacks on Israel, and said the nation is prepared to do it again if necessary.

At least six people were killed in more than a dozen Israeli attacks overnight and early Saturday, according to the National News Agency, Lebanon’s state news agency.

In less than two weeks, nearly 375,000 people have crossed from Lebanon into Syria, fleeing Israeli attacks, according to a Lebanese government commission.

Associated Press journalists could see thousands of people crossing the Masnaa Border Crossing on foot, even as Israeli airstrikes on Thursday left huge craters on the road leading to the site. Much of Hezbollah’s weaponry is believed to come from Iran via Syria.

The Israeli military said its special forces were carrying out targeted ground attacks on Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon, destroying missiles, launch pads, guard towers and weapons storage facilities. In addition, they dismantled tunnel shafts used by the armed group to approach the Israeli border.

Palestinian medical authorities said Israeli strikes on Saturday in northern and central Gaza killed at least nine people.

One of the attacks hit a group of people in the northern town of Beit Hanoun and killed at least five, including two children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The other hit a house in the north of the Nuseirat refugee camp and caused at least four deaths, according to the Awda hospital.

The Israeli military, which had no immediate comment on the incident, often accuses Hamas of operating from areas with dense civilian populations.

An Israeli airstrike killed two children in the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City, according to the civil protection rescue group operating under the Hamas-controlled government.

Israel warned Palestinians to evacuate the area around the strategic Netzarim corridor in the center of the besieged enclave, which was one of the main obstacles to reaching a ceasefire at the beginning of the summer. The army ordered residents in the Nuseirat and Bureij camps to leave for Muwasi, a coastal area it designated as a humanitarian zone.

It is unknown how many Palestinians reside in the designated areas.

Since the start of the war, almost a year ago, nearly 42,000 Palestinians have lost their lives in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, whose count does not distinguish between civilian victims and combatants. Nearly 90% of Gaza residents have been displaced amid widespread destruction.