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Israeli jet fighters struck southern Lebanon, Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley on Tuesday, in a second day of air assaults targeting Hezbollah that have killed more than 550 people according to Lebanese authorities.
The Ministry of Public Health reported that the Israeli strikes, the largest aerial attack since the 2006 war between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group, have resulted in 558 deaths, including 50 children and 49 women, with 1,835 injured.
In Beirut, at least six people were killed and 15 others injured in an air strike on a residential building in a southern suburb of the capital, according to local health authorities. The Israeli military said the strike on Ghobeiry killed Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Qubaisi, who it said was responsible for attacks on Israel. Hezbollah has not confirmed his death.
The Israeli army said on Tuesday it is conducting “extensive strikes” on Hezbollah sites in Lebanon. Officials said the assault aims to eliminate Hezbollah's military capabilities to allow northern Israeli residents to return home after months of displacement, after cross-border fighting began on October 8, a day after the Hamas attack on southern Israel and the start of Israel's war in Gaza war which has since killed more than 41,400 Palestinians.
The operation also aims to pressure Hezbollah to halt its attacks on Israel, which the group says will continue until Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza. Negotiations for a truce have so far failed, mainly due to Israel's insistence on occupying a southern corridor along the border with Egypt.
Despite the high toll on the Lebanese side, the escalation between Hezbollah and Israel appears calculated. Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut remains largely untouched aside from a few targeted strikes, and the group has focused on military targets in Israel, keeping the door open for diplomacy.
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed French presidential envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian at the Grand Serail on Tuesday morning, a day after France called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting to address the situation in Lebanon.
Tuesday's strikes hit residential buildings across Baalbek in the east, causing “destruction and massacres”, the National News Agency reported, adding that “among the martyrs were families whose entire members perished under the rubble”.
Israeli attacks encircled Baalbek city from all sides, with at least 28 towns and villages struck by Israeli jets, the NNA reported. Mosques opened their doors for people fleeing the air strikes. Bakeries and petrol stations in the city were packed on Tuesday as residents rushed to stock up on basic supplies.
Air strikes were reported across the south overnight, including in Qasiba, Kfar Sir and Tambourit, while attacks were reported near Tyre, Baalbek and nearby towns and villages on Tuesday morning.
Thousands of people in southern and eastern Lebanon have fled their homes due to the attacks, with the roads out of the southern city of Sidon gridlocked on Monday night as families rushed to head north.
The Israeli army has said it will increase attacks on the Bekaa Valley, where it says Hezbollah is embedded in civilian homes and using the population as “human shields”.
In a video message, Israeli military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari also threatened a ground invasion if changes are not made “immediately”.
About 90 temporary shelters have been set up in schools to host the displaced, Lebanese caretaker Environment Minister Nasser Yassin, who is co-ordinating the crisis response, told Reuters, with capacity for more than 26,000 people as civilians flee “Israeli atrocities”.
Israeli air strikes had already displaced about 100,000 civilians across southern Lebanon before the latest escalation.
In Israel, the government declared a “special situation” nationwide, allowing the military to issue widespread orders to the public in the name of safety, which can include closing schools and banning gatherings, among other measures. The military has not yet issued nationwide orders, but special restrictions have been in place in northern regions for several days.
Rocket fire targeting Israel continued on Tuesday, with several buildings damaged in direct hits on Kiryat Shmona, Israel's northernmost city. No casualties were immediately reported. The army said around 50 rockets were fired at the area and its surroundings.
Hezbollah said it targeted the city “in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza” and in defence of Lebanon.
About 20 rockets were fired at the Afula area on Tuesday morning, with shrapnel found across the city and nearby Nazareth, the northern district's largest city and home to a mostly Arab population.
Sirens also rang throughout the night in the northern city of Haifa, where thousands ran to bomb shelters after Hezbollah fired rockets at the area on Monday night. The city is home to Rambam hospital, one of Israel's major health facilities, which has been preparing for war for months, including the possibility it will have to move to an underground bunker.
Hezbollah, a political party and militia, is embedded in Lebanon’s government, institutions and society, leading many Lebanese to worry that Israeli strikes could lead to a high civilian death toll.
Last week, senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil was killed, along with 16 other members of the group, in an Israeli strike on Dahieh in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The attack also claimed the lives of dozens of civilians.
The attack came after thousands of booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded last week on two consecutive days, killing dozens of people, just after Israel announced a shift in focus from Gaza towards its conflict with Hezbollah.
On Monday evening, Senior Hezbollah commander Ali Karaki was the target of an Israeli strike in Dahieh. Hezbollah published a statement saying that Mr Karaki was well and in a safe place after the Israeli strike, responding to the “allegations of the Zionist enemy regarding the assassination.
