Death toll rises to 558 as 25 more killed in Israeli airstrike in Lebanon

At least 25 people were killed and six others injured on Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike on houses in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese military and medical sources, reported Xinhua.

A Red Cross source told Xinhua that 15 of the victims were Lebanese civilians, while the other 10 were Syrians.

The military sources, who spoke anonymously, said that an Israeli warplane fired four air-to-ground missiles at dawn on several houses in the center of the village of Nmairiyeh.

The Lebanese Red Cross and civil defense teams transferred the casualties to hospitals in the city of Nabatieh, the sources said.

"Civil defense personnel equipped with bulldozers and cranes spent most of the day removing the rubble of the demolished houses and pulling the bodies from the rubble, most of which appeared disfigured," they said.

According to the military sources, Israeli warplanes and drones carried out 15 raids on villages and towns in southern Lebanon and 11 raids on towns and villages in eastern Lebanon.

Hezbollah's media relations department issued a statement warning that "the Zionist enemy is dropping leaflets with a barcode in the Bekaa region and may send them elsewhere."

The statement advised, "Please do not open or share the barcode; destroy it immediately as it is hazardous. It can extract all your information and poses a threat to your safety."

The latest airstrike took place as Israel's military chief Herzi Halevi vowed earlier in the day to intensify Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon.

"We should not give Hezbollah a rest" and "should keep on working with full force," Halevi said in a statement.

The death toll from intensive Israeli airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon since Monday reached 558, including 50 children and 94 women, with injuries reaching 1,835, Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad said on Tuesday.

Abiad said the airstrikes targeted 14 ambulances, killing four paramedics and injuring 16 others.

He condemned the Israeli forces for targeting civilians, medical teams, and the Bint Jbeil hospital.

"The Israeli enemy's claims of only targeting Hezbollah members are false; The figures we mentioned show that the enemy is targeting innocent civilians and medical staff," he said.

The Israeli army has launched intensive airstrikes on villages and towns in southern and eastern Lebanon since Monday, displacing thousands of families to safer areas.

Since Oct. 8, 2023, Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been exchanging fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border, raising concerns of a broader conflict as the war between Hamas and Israel continues in the Gaza Strip.