Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon LIVE updates: At least 182 killed as Israel widens aerial offensive against Hezbollah weapons sites

Israeli strikes killed more than 180 Lebanese on Monday (September 23, 2024) in the deadliest and most intense barrage in nearly a year as the Israeli military warned residents in southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate their homes ahead of a widening air campaign against Hezbollah.

Thousands of Lebanese fled the south, and the main highway out of the southern port city of Sidon was jammed with cars heading toward Beirut in the biggest exodus since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. More than 400 other people were injured in the strikes.

– AP

Israeli strikes in Gaza left 24 dead and 60 wounded in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry in the Palestinian territory said Monday (September 23, 2024).

“The fresh fatalities brought the overall death toll in Gaza since the war began on October 7 to 41,455, and 95,878 wounded,” said the Ministry which doesn’t differentiate between combatants and civilians.

Israel launched its campaign vowing to destroy Hamas after the militants launched an attack on southern Israel in which they killed some 1,200 people and abducted 250 others.

– AP

Thousands of people are leaving south Lebanon and heading north after Israel intensified airstrikes on Monday, leaving 100 people dead and hundreds wounded.

In the southern port city of Sidon, the main north-south highway was packed with cars heading north in the direction of the capital Beirut.

Following a Cabinet meeting in Beirut Monday, Minister of Environment Nasser Yassin told reporters that some schools are being prepared in Mount Lebanon to receive those fleeing.

It was the biggest wave of displacement since the summer 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, when hundreds of thousands fled their homes in the south.

– AP

The Israeli Military says it is widening an aerial offensive against what it says are Hezbollah weapons sites in southern and eastern Lebanon.

The Military said Monday that it was expanding its airstrikes to include areas of the Bekaa Valley, along Lebanon’s eastern border, after targeting more than 300 sites in southern Lebanon.

Israeli Military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said residents of the Bekaa Valley must immediately evacuate areas where Hezbollah is storing weapons.

– AP

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Israeli strikes on the south killed 100 people and wounded more than 400 others on Monday (September 23, 2024), the worst toll in nearly a year of cross-border clashes.

“Enemy raids on southern towns and villages since this morning… killed 100 and injured more than 400,” the Health Ministry said in a statement updating earlier figures, adding that “children, women, and paramedics” were among the casualties.

– AFP

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister on Monday called Israel’s wave of airstrikes “a genocide in every sense of the word.” 

PM Najib Mikati made the comments at the start of a Cabinet meeting in Beirut in which he said that Israel’s airstrikes aim to destroy Lebanon’s towns and villages. 

Mr. Mikati said that the Lebanese Government is calling on the United Nations, the U.N. Security Council and world nations to “deter the aggression.”

– AP

The Israeli military said it struck 300 targets Monday (September 23, 2024) in Lebanon in one of the most intense barrages of airstrikes in nearly a year of fighting against ​the Hezbollah militant group​.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said 100 people were killed and more than 400 wounded in what would be the deadliest day in Lebanon since the conflict started in October.

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China is urging its citizens in Lebanon and Israel to evacuate or move to safe areas as the conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah is escalating.

“Chinese citizens in Lebanon should take commercial flights to return to China or otherwise leave Lebanon as soon as possible for their own safety,” the Consular Department of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement posted on social media platform WeChat on Monday (September 23, 2024).

“Those who need to continue to stay in Lebanon should remain highly vigilant, effectively strengthen their security precautions and emergency preparedness, and avoid going to high-risk areas and sensitive areas in the south,” the statement read.

– AP

Israel urged residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate from homes and other buildings where it claimed Hezbollah has stored weapons, saying the military would conduct “extensive strikes” against the militant group on Monday (September 23, 2024). 

It was the first warning of its kind in nearly a year of steadily escalating conflict and came after a particularly heavy exchange of fire on Sunday. Hezbollah launched around 150 rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in retaliation for strikes that killed a top commander and dozens of fighters.

– AP