At least 30 people were killed today by Israeli strikes in Lebanon’s Baalbek-Hermel province in the Bekaa Valley, according to the regional governor, and at dusk other shelling hit Beirut‘s southern districts.
About 20 Israeli strikes in Baalbek-Hermel province killed 30 people and wounded 35, Governor Bahrir Khodr said in a post on X. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Israeli shelling also hit Hezbollah strongholds in the southern districts of the Lebanese capital. At least four raids targeted the area today after the Israeli army ordered residents to evacuate various locations.
There are no immediate reports of casualties or details from these bombings in Beirut.
Speech by Naim Kasem
The attacks in the capital came as Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem aired a speech in which he said that only developments on the battlefield, not political moves, would end hostilities between the Lebanese movement and the Israeli army and that there would be path to indirect negotiations through the Lebanese state only if Israel stops its attacks on Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said today that the Lebanese movement has tens of thousands of “trained” fighters to fight the Israeli army, warning that no place in Israel is “safe” from the pro-Iranian movement’s missiles and drones.
“We have tens of thousands of trained resistance fighters who can fight Israel and control the ground,” he said in a pre-recorded televised address marking 40 days since former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike.
“No place in the Israeli entity is beyond the range of (our) drones and missiles,” he added.
He specifically emphasized that only developments on the battlefield, not political moves, will end hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli military, and that there will be a path to indirect negotiations through the Lebanese state only if Israel stops its attacks in Lebanon.
Referring to the US election, Qassem said his movement does not believe the outcome of the US election will help bring about a truce after more than a month of open war with US ally Israel.
“We are not betting on a victory for Harris or Trump in the US elections. This is of no value to us,” Kassem said during the speech released before Trump’s victory was announced.
Missile exchanges
During the screening of Qassem’s speech the Israeli military made a new appeal to residents in southern Beirut districts to evacuate two areas where it will carry out airstrikes against Hezbollah. Shortly after the Israeli army’s order, a raid hit the site.
For its part, the Lebanese movement announced that it fired missiles at a military base near Ben Gurion Airport. Sirens sounded in northern and central Israel and Israeli media reported that a rocket landed near the airport. Airport authorities said that its operation was not affected.
About 120 missiles fired today by Hezbollah from Lebanon passed into Israeli territory, the Israeli military said, without specifying how many landed in the country or how many were intercepted.
As of 4:00 p.m., about 120 missiles fired by the terrorist organization Hezbollah crossed (the border) from Lebanon into Israel, the Israeli military said.
3,000 dead
Since the start of open war between Hezbollah and Israel on September 23 with the invasion of the neighboring country by Israeli troops, more than 2,600 people – mostly civilians – have been killed in Lebanon, Health Minister Firas Abyad told AFP.
“More than 2,600 people have been killed in Lebanon since September 23,” the date of the start of the massive bombing campaign in Lebanon, the victims being “mostly civilians,” the minister said.
This brings the total death toll in Lebanon to 3,000 since the conflict began in October 2023, according to Abiad.
Read also:
Israel: Why Trump’s victory “excites” Netanyahu
Russia-Ukraine: North Korean soldiers engaged in battle in Kursk for first time, US officials say
USA: The indignation and … bad mood of the Americans gave the victory to Trump
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘
fbq(‘init’, ‘726515947549353’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
#Lebanon #dead #Israeli #raids #Israel #range #Qassem
