At least 10 firefighters were killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The attack occurred overnight while the firefighters were preparing for rescue missions from a municipal building in Baraachit.
While the Israeli military has not yet commented on this specific incident, they confirmed that their fighter jets targeted sites associated with the militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. On Monday afternoon, the Israeli military reported carrying out airstrikes on 120 targets in just one hour, following reports of significant bombardment throughout the region.
The state-run National News Agency indicated that Israeli aircraft targeted over 30 towns and villages near the southern coastal city of Tyre. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) specified that their strikes aimed at three key units of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, including the elite Radwan Force and the Intelligence Directorate.
The Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon appears to be escalating, with the IDF announcing that a third division has joined the ground operation initiated six days ago to dismantle Hezbollah’s infrastructure near the border. The military has also ordered the evacuation of 20 more communities in southern Lebanon, including Naqoura, which houses UN peacekeepers.
According to Lebanese authorities, three weeks of intense Israeli strikes and attacks have resulted in over 1,400 deaths, with 22 reported on Sunday alone, displacing approximately 1.2 million people. Despite these losses, Hezbollah has expressed confidence in its ability to resist Israeli actions, following a series of rocket attacks targeting northern Israeli cities such as Haifa and Tiberias.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that counterattacks against what he termed “Iran’s axis of evil” are essential for Israel’s security and future stability.