BEIRUT: Israel carried out its heaviest strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday since the conflict with Hezbollah broke out last month, killing dozens and wounding hundreds.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the attacks had killed 182 people and wounded 890.
The Israeli military claimed it had targeted Hezbollah's infrastructure embedded within civilian areas across the country.
The attacks hit multiple areas of the country including across the capital, its southern suburbs and the Bekaa region, according to Lebanese state media.
After a series of simultaneous afternoon raids on neighborhoods in Beirut, Israel carried out evening strikes, including on a building in the Tallet El-Khayat area, which led, according to an AFP photographer, to the collapse of part of a residential building.
Israel also struck Beirut's southern suburbs late Wednesday, according to state media.
AFPTV live footage showed plumes of smoke rising over Beirut and its outskirts, while AFP journalists reported scenes of panic in the streets.
One of the strikes hit Corniche Al-Mazraa, one of the main roads in the capital, toppling a building and sending black smoke billowing into the sky as the rubble burned.
A Lebanese security source described the latest wave of bombardment as the heaviest the country has witnessed since the conflict with Israel began.
In Beirut, bloodied and injured people abandoned cars in traffic and headed to the nearest hospital, Reuters witnesses said.
Using forklifts, rescue workers removed burned cars and debris that blocked a major thoroughfare in Beirut, AP reported.
Dozens of charred vehicles mixed with concrete and twisted metal filled an entire residential block. More than two hours after the strikes, rescuers sifted through the debris looking for survivors, as smoke continued to rise.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called on his country’s friends to help put an end to Israeli attacks.
In a statement, Salam said that while Beirut “welcomed the agreement between Iran and the United States and intensified our efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, Israel continues to escalate its attacks.”
“All of Lebanon’s friends are called upon to help us stop these attacks by all available means,” he added, after Israeli strikes that
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the Israeli attacks as “barbaric.”
Earlier he had welcomed the two-week ceasefire agreed by the US and Iran, saying he hoped his country would be included in the regional truce.
Aoun said Beirut “continued efforts to ensure that the regional peace includes Lebanon in a stable and lasting manner,” according a statement from the presidency.
Israel's military said it 'continues fighting and ground operations' in its war against the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military had carried out a surprise attack on Wednesday targeting hundreds of Hezbollah members across Lebanon, calling it the largest blow against the group since a 2024 operation involving pager bombs.
The Israeli military said it struck more than 100 targets within 10 minutes Wednesday across Lebanon, the largest wave of strikes since March 1.
Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit accused Israel of “persistently seeking to sabotage” the Iran ceasefire deal.
Among those killed in the strikes were two journalists: Suzanne Khalil of Al-Manar TV, affiliated with Hezbollah, and Ghada Dayekh of local radio station Sawt Al-Farah, AFP reported.
The attack came despte a deal for a two-week ceasefire between the United States and Hezbollah's backer Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump insisted the Iran war truce does not include Lebanon. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, however, said that an end to the war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire deal
Hezbollah halted fire on northern Israel and on Israeli troops in Lebanon in the early hours of Wednesday as part of the US-Iran ceasefire announced earlier, three Lebanese sources close to the group told Reuters.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that he welcomed the ceasefire between Iran and the United States, at the start of his meeting on defense with advisers and members of his cabinet, but added the situation in Lebanon remained critical and called for Lebanon to be included in the deal.
The Israeli army also issued an evacuation warning for a building near the southern city of Tyre.
Earlier, Lebanon’s army warned people against returning to the country’s south on Wednesday due to fears of further Israeli attacks.
“In light of regional developments and reports circulating about a ceasefire, (the army) urges citizens to wait before returning to southern villages and towns and to avoid approaching areas where Israeli occupation forces have advanced... since they may be exposing themselves to the ongoing Israeli attacks,” the Lebanese army said in a statement.
An AFP correspondent in the Tyre region saw a small number of people heading south, from where hundreds of thousands have been displaced since Lebanon was drawn into the war on March 2.
Israel's attacks in recent weeks have killed more than 1,500 people and displaced over a million, according to Lebanese authorities.
- With Agencies
