12 killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon

Twelve people were killed and 10 others injured on Friday in a series of Israeli airstrikes on eastern and southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese sources, reported Xinhua.

The Lebanese military sources, who spoke anonymously, said Israeli warplanes carried out 15 raids in southern Lebanon and four more in the east, inflicting several casualties, including a paramedic from the Islamic Health Authority.

The official National News Agency confirmed that the paramedic, named Zaher Ibrahim Ataya, was killed after an Israeli airstrike targeted the Islamic Health Authority's newly-established center in the west of southern Lebanon.

It added that four people were killed and five others injured in another Israeli airstrike on a house in the town of Al-Ghandouriya, while two more were killed in a strike that targeted a building in the village of Kfar Tebnit.

Moreover, an Israeli airstrike hit a house in the village of Zebdine, killing its owner, Mohammad Fayez Muqaddam, and his two sons, it noted.

Meanwhile, a media source from the Lebanese Red Cross told Xinhua that they transferred on Friday the body of a Syrian national who was killed in an Israeli drone attack that took place on a road east of southern Lebanon.

In eastern Lebanon, a Lebanese Civil Defense official in Baalbek said Israeli forces pounded three villages and towns, killing a woman and wounding five others.

Also on Friday, Hezbollah announced in a series of statements that its military wing targeted with rocket barrages Ramat David Airbase and Stella Maris naval base near northern Israel's Haifa, the Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, and gatherings of Israeli forces in several moshavim and kibbutzim in Israel.

Hezbollah added it also struck an Israeli infantry force northwest of the Lebanese village of Kfar Kila and an Israeli gathering in the Lebanese town of Adaisseh.

The Lebanese military sources, in the meantime, told Xinhua that army positions monitored the launch of about 50 surface-to-surface missiles from Lebanon to Israel.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli military and rescue service reported that Hezbollah fired about five rockets toward central and northern Israel, setting off air raid sirens in 53 Israeli cities and communities. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Since Sept. 23, Israel has intensified its air campaign against Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, Israeli airstrikes since the outbreak of hostilities on Oct. 8, 2023 have claimed 3,102 lives, with 13,819 injured.