At least 28 dead or hurt in Israeli strike on Akkar town
Lebanese state-run media said Israel struck a house in the northern Akkar region on Monday, one of the farthest attacks from the border in its war against Hezbollah, killing and wounding at least 28 Syrian citizens, displaced Lebanese and town residents.
Lebanese Red Cross chief Georges Kettaneh meanwhile told LBCI television that at least seven people were killed and 14 others wounded in the strike, as TV networks said the strike had been preceded by the bombing of a car near the building.
Since September 23, Israel has intensified its air campaign mainly targeting Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon's east, south and south Beirut, rarely targeting the country's north.
"An enemy strike targeted a house in the village of Ain Yaacoub," some 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Israel, said Lebanon's official National News Agency.
Local official Rony al-Hage told AFP that "displaced people lived in the two-story house" and that it was the northernmost Israeli attack since the full-blown war erupted. After it escalated its air raids, Israel sent ground troops in against Hezbollah in south Lebanon on September 30.
"Rescue and rubble-removing operations are still ongoing," Hage said.
Residents of a nearby village heard a loud explosion and ambulance sirens.
A local Facebook page broadcast a live video feed it said was from the scene of the strike that showed a completely destroyed house, while people removed the rubble with bare hands, using their phones as flashlights.
Lebanon's health ministry earlier said an Israeli strike on the southern town of Saksakiyeh killed at least seven people on Monday.
The Lebanon war erupted after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges of fire, launched by Hezbollah in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas following their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. That attack triggered the ongoing Gaza war.
More than 3,240 people have been killed in Lebanon since the cross-border fire began last year, according to Lebanon's health ministry, but most of the deaths have come since late September.
Source: Agence France Presse, Naharnet
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