Israel said Tuesday it was stepping up its bombing campaign in Lebanon, after two days of airstrikes on the Shiite Hezbollah militia left the death toll above 550, including a rocket commander and two UN aid agency workers.
“We cannot let Hezbollah rest. We must continue with all our strength,” Israeli Chief of Staff General Herzi Halevi said, according to military sources.
He said the attacks will be intensified and more military troops will be deployed.
The Israeli Air Force said it had “strike[d]Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon, including launch sites, terrorist infrastructure sites and buildings storing weapons.”
The Israeli military later announced that it had killed the Hezbollah rocket leader in the Beirut suburb of Ghobeiry.
They said Ibrahim Qubaisi was responsible for rocket attacks on Israel and attacks on civilians. In addition to Qubaisi, other commanders of the rocket unit were also killed, the statement added.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said six people were killed and 15 wounded in the attack. Witnesses said two floors of a building were destroyed and videos showed large plumes of smoke.
Militia strikes back
Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon but is backed by Iran, has meanwhile launched new attacks on northern Israel.
The militia said it fired a salvo of rockets at Israeli military bases, including the heavier Fadi-1 and Fadi-2 rockets.
The Iran-backed group said it struck bases near the Israeli city of Haifa, a military airport west of Afula and other locations including the town of Rosh Pina.
The Israeli military reported that some 215 projectiles were fired into Israeli territory. Hezbollah has fired more than 8,800 rockets and drones in just under a year.
Until the recent escalation, Hezbollah mainly used smaller rockets and drones against Israel.
Deadly days in Lebanon
The death toll from Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon in two days has risen to 558 and 1,835 people have been injured, Lebanon’s Health Minister Firas Abiad said.
About 50 children were among the dead, he said. The wounded were being treated in more than 54 hospitals and medical centers in Beirut and southern Lebanon, added Abiad, who is health minister in an interim government.
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said two of its staff members were killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The agency said it was “outraged and deeply saddened” by the deaths.
Dina Darwiche, who worked at her office in Bekaa in eastern Lebanon, died after the building where she was staying was hit by an Israeli missile on Monday, UNHCR said in a statement.
“Her husband and one of her children were rescued and are being treated in hospital for serious injuries. The bodies of Dina and her youngest son were tragically recovered today,” the statement said.
The report said that Ali Basma, who also worked at the UNHCR office in Tyre in southern Lebanon, died on Monday.
As the war in Gaza approaches its first anniversary, the Israeli strikes mark a dramatic escalation of the conflict with Hezbollah in the north.
In another major blow to Hezbollah last week, hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded across Lebanon. Many observers attributed the attack to Israel, although Israel has not officially claimed responsibility.
