Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least 492 in Lebanon, Including 35 Children, As Attacks Intensify
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – At least 492 people, including 35 children, were killed in a day of relentless Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Over 1,600 were reported injured in the Israeli attacks, which targeted towns and villages in the south and eastern regions of the country.
Lebanon's Health Ministry confirmed Monday that at least 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, were killed during widespread Israeli airstrikes. The attacks also left 1,645 others injured, with health officials working to provide urgent care to the wounded.
Health Minister Firass Abiad stated that hospitals were instructed to prioritize treating those wounded in the strikes. Regular patients with less severe conditions were being diverted to make space for the influx of injured from southern Lebanon.
“We are directing first-aid centers to handle the wounded, while continuing treatment for displaced individuals suffering from chronic conditions like cancer and kidney failure,” Abiad said.
Israeli warplanes bombed numerous towns and villages along Lebanon’s southern border, as well as areas in the Bekaa Valley and Baalbek in the east, Lebanese media reported. More than 40 locations were struck in total.
The Commissioner of Marjayoun-Hassbaya in the Muslim Scouts, Sheikh Hussein Al-Nader, was killed in an airstrike targeting his home in South Lebanon. Additionally, a family of four was killed in Hermel, and three others were injured when an airstrike hit the Deir El-Zahrani highway.
In a show of solidarity, the Sheikh of the Druze community reached out to the Deputy Head of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council, reaffirming support for the people of southern Lebanon and the Bekaa during this critical period.
The intensified attacks follow Israel's offensive on Gaza, which began on October 7. In response, Hezbollah has launched numerous retaliatory strikes against Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, signaling its support for the Gaza Strip.
On Sunday, Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets at the Ramat David Airbase and the Rafael weapons manufacturing facility near Haifa. The group described the strikes as an “initial response” to Israeli criminal acts, including the detonation of booby-trapped devices that killed 39 people and wounded 3,000 across Lebanon earlier in the week.
Hezbollah's Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem declared that the resistance group had entered a "new phase" in its confrontation with Israel.
"Threats will not stop us... We are ready to face all military possibilities," Qassem said during the funeral of senior commander Ibrahim Aqil, who was killed alongside 37 others in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs last Friday.