Lebanon Says 15 Dead in Israeli Strikes on Three Villages

AFP/APP

Beirut: Lebanon’s health ministry reported that Israeli strikes on three villages outside traditional Hezbollah strongholds resulted in the deaths of at least 15 people on Saturday, with state media indicating further strikes in other areas.

An “Israeli enemy strike on Maaysra,” a village in a predominantly Christian mountain area north of Beirut, left “nine dead and 15 wounded,” according to the health ministry’s statement, which updated an earlier toll.

An AFP correspondent in Maaysra observed excavators attempting to clear debris from a destroyed building, while emergency workers, one using a manual sledgehammer, struggled to break through a massive slab of concrete.

Separately, the ministry reported that four people had been killed and 18 others injured in an “Israeli enemy strike” on Barja in the Shouf district, located south of the capital.

Additionally, two people were reported dead, four wounded, and “body parts” found in an Israeli strike on Deir Billa, approximately 15 kilometers (nine miles) from Batroun, a town on Lebanon’s northern coast. DNA tests are underway to identify the remains, the ministry added.

The official National News Agency (NNA) reported that an “Israeli strike” had targeted a house in Deir Billa, where families from southern Lebanon had taken refuge.

An AFP correspondent in Deir Billa noted a mattress, pillows, bed covers, a washing basket, and clothes scattered amid the wreckage, as people sifted through the rubble by hand while smoke rose from a smoldering pile.

In eastern Lebanon, Tal Chiha hospital management stated that the facility had sustained “light material damage” due to “strikes that targeted the vicinity” of the mainly Christian town of Zahle. No patients or staff were harmed, and the hospital remained operational, the statement added.

Since September 23, Israel has been heavily bombarding southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs, claiming to target Hezbollah sites.