Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 60 people were killed on Monday in Israeli raids on several areas in the eastern Bekaa Valley, most of them in the Baalbek region.
The health ministry said the tolls covered 12 areas in the Bekaa Valley where Hezbollah holds sway. At least two children were among the dead, it said.
At least 58 others were wounded, the health ministry added, noting that the toll was preliminary as rescue efforts were still underway.
Of the 60 killed, at least 16 deaths were recorded in Al-Alaq, west of Baalbek city, according to the health ministry.
Monday’s deaths raise the overall toll to more than 1,700 killed in Lebanon since the Israel-Hezbollah war erupted late last month, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures.
The real number is likely to be higher due to gaps in the data.
Baalbek governor Bachir Khodr decried what he called the “most violent” raids on the area since the start of the conflict.
Baalbek is an impoverished region in the Bekaa Valley that borders Syria.
The heavy strikes there on Monday were not preceded by an evacuation warning.
They came as Israel pounded south Lebanon, including the coastal city of Tyre, according to the official National News Agency.
The Israel-Hezbollah war erupted on September 23 after nearly a year of cross-border fire between the two rivals.
The war has displaced at least 1.3 million people, more than 800,000 inside Lebanon according to the UN’s migration agency.
More than half a million people have crossed into Syria, according to Lebanese authorities, most of them Syrians.
Israel has carried out thousands of air strikes across Lebanon over the past five weeks, targeting what it has says are Hezbollah’s operatives, infrastructure and weapons.
Governor Bachie Khodr called the attacks the “most violent” in the area since Israel escalated the conflict against Hezbollah last month.
Unverified video posted on social media showed damage to buildings and forests ablaze, as rescuers searched for the injured.
In the town of Boudai, videos on social media appeared to show residents pleading for heavy equipment to be sent to help rescue people believed to be trapped.
The regional head of Baalbek’s Civil Defence crews told the BBC that the air strikes were like a “ring of fire”.
‘It was a very violent night,” Bilal Raad said.
“It was like a ring of fire has suddenly surrounded the area.”
He added the attacks had targeted “residential quarters where civilians live or near them”, and said a lack of equipment had hampered search and rescue efforts.
The town of Al-Allaq was hardest hit with 16 people killed, all from the same family, he said.
Baalbek is home to the ancient Roman ruins of Heliopolis – a UNESCO World Heritage site – where, in Roman times, thousands of pilgrims went to worship three deities.
Earlier on Monday, Israeli air strikes on the coastal city of Tyre left seven dead and 17 injured, Lebanon’s health ministry said. Israel issued a warning for people to leave the centre of the city.
Hezbollah said it clashed with Israeli troops near Lebanon’s southern border on Monday and fired rockets at a naval base inside Israel near Haifa.
Cross-border hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah broke out after the armed Lebanese group started firing rockets in and around northern Israel in support of Palestinians on 8 October 2023, the day after its ally Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel.
The Lebanese health ministry says more than 2,700 people have been killed and more than 12,400 wounded in Lebanon since then.
Israel invaded southern Lebanon in a dramatic escalation on 30 September to destroy, it said, Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure in “limited, localised, targeted raids”.
Lebanon’s government says up to 1.3 million people have been internally displaced as a result of the conflict.
