Strikes hit near east Lebanon’s main city of Baalbek and close to the southern city of Tyre on Thursday, state media said, after Israel issued evacuation calls for both areas.
The air strikes came as Lebanon’s prime minister condemned Israel for issuing evacuation warnings for entire areas and called for diplomatic pressure for a halt to its strikes more than a month into the war.
The strikes on Al-Hawsh, near Tyre, destroyed six buildings, civil defence said, and coincided with an exodus of civilians from the Rashidieh camp for Palestinian refugees near Tyre, also covered by the evacuation warning, the official National News Agency said.
“Enemy warplanes” also hit Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers in Tyre, the NNA said, adding that “the ambulance team that tried to rescue” the crew had been targeted twice.
The camp, located about five kilometres (three miles) from Tyre, is one of the largest and most overcrowded in Lebanon.
The NNA also reported Israeli “aircraft launched four strikes” near Baalbek, after Israel issued evacuation warnings covering the main eastern city for the second day in a row.
Baalbek is renowned for its yearly international music festival, which has sent an open letter calling for “rapid action to stop repeated attacks” on the city, which is also home to one of the world’s largest complexes of Roman temples — designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
So far the heritage site has not been hit, though it was covered under an evacuation warning.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted an evacuation call for the Rashidieh camp and other nearby villages and towns on X, telling residents to move “north of the Awali river”.
– ‘Continued escalation’ –
Earlier Thursday, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said “the threats issued by the Israeli enemy against Lebanese civilians to evacuate entire cities and leave their areas and homes are an additional war crime”.
He said he was “requesting intensified pressure on Israel to stop its aggression”.
On Wednesday, Mikati said US envoy Amos Hochstein signalled during a phone call that a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war was possible before US elections are held on November 5.
Mikati said a ceasefire would be linked to implementation of the United Nations resolution that ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Security Council Resolution 1701 states that only the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers should be deployed in southern Lebanon, while demanding the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory.
“We are waiting to hear back from him following his discussions” in Israel, Mikati said.
“Israel’s continued escalation, their stances and threats do not leave room for optimism, at least in the short term.”
His remarks came as the Lebanese health ministry said Israeli strikes on three locations in south Lebanon killed six rescuers affiliated with Hezbollah or its ally Amal.
The war in Lebanon began late last month, nearly a year after Hezbollah began low-intensity cross-border fire into Israel in support of Hamas following its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered war in Gaza.
At least 1,784 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since September 23, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures.
str/lar/ho-aya/it
