Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on September 30, 2024. Photo: AFP
Israel’s offensive in Lebanon has claimed the lives of at least 136 people within 24 hours, as airstrikes continued into Monday morning.
Israel conducted on Monday its first strike in the Lebanese capital, killing three members of a Palestinian fighter group, according to their organization.
Israel, which has not yet commented on the strike, launched a wave of air strikes on Lebanon last week, mainly targeting strongholds of Iran-backed Hezbollah.
On Friday it dealt Hezbollah a seismic blow by killing its chief, Hassan Nasrallah.
The strikes have killed hundreds and forced thousands more to flee their homes, and left people across crisis-wracked Lebanon, and the wider region fearful of more violence to come.
Most of Israel’s strikes over the past week have targeted Hezbollah strongholds in eastern and southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, the main bastion of the group.
On Monday, a drone strike on a building in Beirut’s busy Cola district killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the leftist armed group said.
Lebanon’s health ministry also reported the strike, saying it had killed four people and wounded four others.
Israel has not commented on the strike.
“I woke up to the sound of people screaming that a place near the pharmacy had been targeted, and I rushed there to make sure the employees were OK,” said Marwa al-Jamal, who owns a chemist’s in the neighbourhood.
Mohammed al-Hoss, another resident of the area, said the strike had damaged his house, and that people
displaced by the bombing elsewhere in the country had been seeking shelter there.
“The kids were in shock... I didn’t think we’d reach this stage where we are being targeted unjustly for something we have nothing to do with,” the 41-year-old said.
Hours after the Cola strike, Palestinian group Hamas announced that its leader in Lebanon, Fatah Sharif Abu al-Amine, had been killed along with his wife and two children in another strike on Al-Bass refugee camp in south Lebanon.
The Israeli military announced the launch of more strikes on dozens of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon’s Bekaa region in the east of the country.
Israel “will continue to attack powerfully, damage and degrade Hezbollah’s military capabilities and infrastructure in Lebanon,” the army said in a statement on Telegram.
