Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Lebanon’s eastern city of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley on October 30, 2024. Photo courtesy: AFP
Israeli air strikes hit the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek on Wednesday (October 30, 2024), killing at least 19 people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry and state-run news agency.
Hours earlier, the Israeli military had issued an evacuation warning for residents of the entire city – including the ancient Roman temple complex inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Israel said it was targeting sites linked to the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.
According to government estimates, approximately 1.2 million people have been displaced by the conflict in Lebanon. Lebanon’s health ministry said more than 2,800 people have been killed and 12,900 injured since October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah retaliated by firing rockets at Israel. Israeli ground forces invaded southern Lebanon in early October.
The death toll in more than a year of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has risen to more than 43,000, Palestinian officials said on Monday (October 28, 2024), without distinguishing between civilians and combatants. The Israel–Hamas war began when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and abducting 250 others.
published – October 31, 2024 07:37 am IST