BEIRUT: According to the regional governor, Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed at least 38 people on Wednesday in the Bekaa Valley, near the eastern city of Baalbek. At sunset, more missiles struck the southern suburbs of Beirut.
In tandem with the Gaza war, Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in gunfire for more than a year, but since late September, the fighting has intensified as Israeli troops have begun bombing large areas of southern and eastern Lebanon and infiltrating border villages on foot.
Bachir Khodr, the governor of the Baalbek-Hermel governorate, reported on X that almost 40 Israeli attacks had killed 38 people and injured 54 others. There was no comment from the Israeli military.
Hezbollah strongholds in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut have also been hit hard by Israeli strikes. Following the Israeli military’s order for people to leave multiple areas, the region was the target of at least four strikes on Wednesday.
Details about what was struck and the number of casualties were not immediately available. The assault occurred soon after Naim Qassem, the secretary general of Hezbollah, stated that he did not think “political action” would stop the fighting. If Israel ceased its attacks, he argued, there might be a path to indirect talks.
“Indirect negotiations through the Lebanese state and Speaker (of parliament) Nabih) Berri are the path for negotiations that we have clearly defined when the enemy decides to stop the aggression,” Qassem stated.
Rescuers search for survivors
Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed over 3,000 people in the past year, with the majority occurring in the last six weeks.
Following an Israeli strike that killed 20 people in the village of Barja, south of Beirut, on Tuesday night, Lebanese rescuers searched a wrecked apartment building for bodies or any survivors, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Living on one of the building’s upper stories, Moussa Zahran came back to search among the wreckage of his house. His son and wife were hospitalized after being injured in the strike, and his scorched feet were covered with gauze.
In reference to his son and the wall of his apartment that had fallen on him during the strike, he remarked, “These rocks that you see here weigh 100 kilos, they fell on a 13 kilo kid.” Whether the strike was directed at a Hezbollah member was unclear. Prior to the air raid, there was no evacuation warning.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on Wednesday, including two that targeted naval sites close to Tel Aviv and another near the Israeli city of Haifa.
In a statement, Hezbollah claimed that its fighters “targeted the Stella Maris naval base northwest of Haifa with a salvo of high-quality missiles and a squadron of attack drones.”
In as many weeks, the base had been attacked four times.
Hezbollah claimed to have fired “attack drones on the Haifa naval base in Haifa Bay, for the first time” later on Wednesday. It claimed to have struck a base south of Tel Aviv in the evening, marking the first time it had done so.
Fighters prepared for battle
The leader of Hezbollah stated on Wednesday that his organization had tens of thousands of fighters prepared for battle and that no area of Israel was safe from assault.
In a statement celebrating 40 days since the death of his predecessor, Naim Qassem declared, “We have tens of thousands of trained resistance combatants” prepared to battle. Additionally, he stated that no location in Israel would be “off-limits” to the group’s assaults. He stated that any potential ceasefire agreement will not be impacted by the outcome of the US presidential election.
“Political events are not the basis for our expectations that the aggression would cease. Prior to the announcement of Trump’s victory, he stated in a pre-recorded address that “it means nothing to us whether (Kamala) Harris or (Donald) Trump wins.”
Citing Hezbollah attacks on Israel and fighting in south Lebanon, he declared, “The battlefield is what will stop this… war.” Qassem gave his second address since being appointed secretary-general of Hezbollah last week.
