The Israel Defense Forces has reportedly killed hundreds in its widening air campaign against Hezbollah
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike hit the Tyre, in southern Lebanon © Getty Images / Stringer; Anadolu
The Israeli military carried out a series of airstrikes on Lebanon on Monday, reportedly killing over 350 people. The strikes, which have been described as the deadliest since the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war, come amid the Jewish State’s expanding campaign against the Lebanese militant group.
Lebanese authorities have reported that over 1,200 people have been injured. The country’s Health Minister Firass Abiad has claimed that the strikes have hit hospitals, medical centers and ambulances.
The government has ordered schools and universities across the country to begin preparing shelters as thousands of people flee from the southern regions of Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military claimed to have struck over 1,300 targets, describing them as Hezbollah weapons sites.
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23 September 2024
19:34 GMT
Egypt has called on “international powers and the UN Security Council to intervene immediately” to stop the “dangerous Israeli escalation in Lebanon” that “threatens to drag the region into a comprehensive regional war,” according to a statement by the Foreign Ministry in Cairo.
Egypt has expressed solidarity with Lebanon and denounced “any violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty and territory,” while continuing to work towards a ceasefire in Gaza, the ministry added.
- 19:19 GMT
Israeli strikes on Lebanon “mark a new phase in its efforts to drag the entire region into chaos,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Monday evening.
“The countries that unconditionally support Israel are helping [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu shed blood for his political interests,” the ministry said in a statement, calling on the UN Security Council and “all institutions responsible for maintaining international peace and security” to act without delay and stop the hostilities.
- 19:11 GMT
The NGO Save the Children has condemned the Israeli bombing of Lebanon as “the deadliest day since last October,” noting that around 1.5 million children will face school closures on Tuesday.
“We’re seeing strikes in dozens of towns, families desperately trying to flee with whatever they can carry, children crying, terrified by the sound of drones and fighter jets,” according to Jennifer Moorehead, the NGO’s director in Lebanon.
At least 24 children were killed in Israeli air attacks on Monday, according to Lebanese authorities.
NGOs provide assistance to the displaced Lebanese families, who fled their homes due to Israeli attacks, September 23, 2024. / Houssam Shbaro © Getty Images
- 19:08 GMT
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has called for an urgent meeting of Arab leaders in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, to “review the repercussions of the Zionist aggression on our peaceful people in Lebanon” and work to stop the “criminal behavior,” according to a statement released to the press.
- 19:05 GMT
Hezbollah commander Ali Karaki is “well” and in a safe place, the group said on Monday evening. Israeli media earlier reported that Karaki was the target of a series of IDF airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Lebanese capital Beirut earlier in the day.
Medical teams arrive at the scene of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon on September 23, 2024. / Houssam Shbaro © Getty Images
- 18:53 GMT
Spain has condemned the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon, calling for a ceasefire and respect for UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
“War must be avoided at all costs. All parties must respect civilian lives and the basic principles of international humanitarian law,” the Foreign Ministry in Madrid said on Monday in a statement, according to an unofficial translation. “The spiral of violence must stop.”
- 18:30 GMT
At least 356 Lebanese have been killed and 1,246 wounded in Israeli airstrikes on Monday, the health ministry in Beirut announced later in the day. Among the casualties were 42 women and 24 children, the authorities said.
Displaced Lebanese are being relocated to schools due to Israeli attacks in
Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. / Houssam Shbaro © Getty Images - 18:10 GMT
On Monday evening, the IDF said it had struck “more than 1,300” Hezbollah targets in Lebanon with over 1,400 munitions. The Israeli military claimed it was targeting storage facilities and deployment points of rockets, missiles, launchers, and drones that “posed a threat and were intended to have been used against Israel.”
Hezbollah has fired around 200 rockets at northern Israel since Monday morning, according to the IDF.
- 17:35 GMT
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “alarmed” by the escalating conflict in Lebanon and has expressed “great concern” for the safety of civilians in that country and in Israel, according to his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
“The secretary-general notes the ongoing efforts by the UN special coordinator for Lebanon and the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon to reduce tensions, and he reiterates the urgent need for de-escalation – that all efforts should be devoted to a diplomatic solution,” Dujarric added.
Cars sit in traffic as they flee the southern villages amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes, in Sidon, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. © AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari
- 17:20 GMT
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Israel of acting “not as a state but as a terrorist organization,” saying that it has shown it doesn’t care about civilian lives when it remotely blew up hundreds of communications devices across Lebanon last week.
“Israel’s plan is to spread the war to the entire region,” Erdogan said on Monday, after Israel’s military announced earlier in the day it had conducted “extensive” airstrikes on 300 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
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