Israeli strikes in two Mount Lebanon villages kill 23 – ministry

On Tuesday morning, the Israeli military carried out at least 10 strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahieh, after issuing evacuation orders for 11 locations.

Lebanese media reported that several buildings were levelled, including a medical centre in the Bir al-Abed area, but there were no reports of casualties.

The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah targets, including command centres and weapons production sites.

In the evening, the Israeli military declared that it had “dismantled a majority of Hezbollah’s weapons storage and missile manufacturing facilities” that had been “systematically concealed beneath civilian buildings” in Dahieh.

Most residents of Dahieh – one of the areas where Hezbollah has a significant presence, along with southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley – have fled because their neighbourhoods have been targeted repeatedly since September.

On Tuesday night, the Lebanese health ministry said 15 people were killed, including eight women and four children, in an Israeli strike on a house in Joun, in the Chouf mountains near the southern coastal city of Sidon.

The state-run National News Agency reported that displaced families had been staying there.

Residents and a security official said another house where displaced families had taken refuge was hit in Baalchmay, 30km (20 miles) to the north-east, killing eight people and injuring five.

Wael Murtada told the Associated Press, external that the home had belonged to his uncle and that those inside had fled from Dahieh about 40 days ago. He said at least three children were among the dead.

The targets of the two strikes were unclear.

Elsewhere in Lebanon, five people were killed in a strike in the southern village of Teffahta, according to the health ministry.

In the northern town of Ain Yaaqou, Lebanon’s Civil Defence agency said its first responders had recovered the bodies of 16 people, including four Syrian refugees, from the rubble of a residential building that was destroyed by an air strike on Monday night.

The Israeli military said its forces had targeted a “military structure with a terrorist inside”.

It also said Israeli soldiers were continuing ground operations in southern Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure, including rocket launchers.