Israeli airstrikes targeted a Beirut hotel and a residential complex in eastern Lebanon, killing at least 11 people as cross-border attacks intensify.
BEIRUT: Israeli airstrikes struck a hotel in a Beirut suburb and a residential complex in eastern Lebanon on Wednesday.
The attacks killed at least 11 people and wounded over 20, according to Lebanese state media and health officials.
The strikes marked a significant escalation, hitting areas far from the traditional border conflict zone.
In Baalbek, a city in Lebanon’s east, state media reported five people were killed when a residential complex was hit.
Fifteen others were wounded and three people remained missing following that strike.
Baalbek’s mayor stated that only civilians lived in the targeted complex.
South of Beirut, Israeli strikes on the towns of Aramoun and Saadiyat killed six people and wounded eight.
The health ministry cautioned this was a preliminary toll from those strikes.
An AFP correspondent saw rescuers extracting people from a residential building hit in Aramoun.
The National News Agency reported an Israeli air strike targeted a hotel in the predominantly Christian suburb of Hazmieh.
This was the first reported attack on that area of Beirut’s suburbs since the conflict began.
An AFP correspondent in Hazmieh saw people stumbling from the hotel as emergency crews rushed to the scene.
The Israeli military announced “broad-scale strikes” against Hezbollah in Lebanon’s south earlier on Wednesday.
It later called on residents in 29 villages across southern Lebanon to evacuate in an “urgent warning”.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said three paramedics were among those killed in Lebanon.
Six other people were wounded while recovering casualties from explosion sites, he added.
Hezbollah said it targeted northern Israel’s Haifa naval base with “a barrage of high-quality missiles”.
The Israeli military said several projectiles were intercepted, reporting no casualties.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for 13 attacks on Israel on Tuesday, targeting at least five Israeli tanks.
These attacks were “in response to the criminal Israeli aggression on dozens of Lebanese cities and towns”.
Israeli strikes since Monday have killed at least 50 people in Lebanon, according to the health ministry.
Lebanese authorities recorded the displacement of more than 58,000 people from targeted areas on Monday.
The Lebanese government declared a ban on Hezbollah’s military activities in an attempt to avoid wider war.
The Sun Malaysia
