Beirut attack death toll rises
Lebanon’s Health Ministry has just published a statement saying the death toll from Friday’s Israeli attack on southern Beirut has risen to 45. The strike, which wrecked two buildings in the Lebanese capital’s Dahiya district during rush hour had wounded more than 60 people.
The statement added that “work continues to remove the rubble for the third day in a row” and that DNA sampling would be used to determine the identities of some of the bodies.
Israel’s military said it carried out the strike against senior members of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.
Rescuers sift through the rubble at the scene of an Israeli strike that targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs a day earlier as search and rescue operations continue on September 21
Lebanon-Israel border fire at all-time high as casualties mount
The border towns in southern Lebanon have come under constant fire by Israel since yesterday. The attacks continue today. According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, the latest strike on the border village of Aitaroun killed one person and wounded another.
Hezbollah has in turn been hitting back, launching at least 115 rockets towards Israel, many of which have hit deep inside Israel, with some hitting 50km inside Israeli borders near Haifa.
The border fire is at its all-time high in terms of numbers and the severity of the destruction that continues this morning.
UN coordinator warns, ‘no military solution’ to the region’s conflict
The UN’s special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis, has warned that the region is on the brink of a war that will spell “imminent catastrophe”. There is “no military solution that will make either side safe”, she said in a short statement published by the UN.
“With the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer.” - @UN Special Coordinator for #Lebanon @JeanineHennis. pic.twitter.com/CNXSO4VhTF
— UNSCOL (@UNSCOL) September 22, 2024
Hospitals in northern Israel instructed to shift to war footing
Hospitals in northern Israel have been advised to operate facilities with extra protection from rocket and missile fire, the Health Ministry said. Rambam hospital in Haifa will transfer patients to its underground facility, the ministry added.
The Hezbollah-Israel cross-border firing is currently at an all-time high as casualties mount and as that front of war continues to escalate.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry says 3 killed in Israeli attacks
It says three people were killed in Israeli strikes in the southern part of the country.
Hezbollah has confirmed two of its fighters were killed today.
More people leaving southern Lebanon as conflict with Israel intensifies
A lot of people have already left the southern Lebanon areas near the border, but there is a marked difference between when I was last here in February and now.
About 30 percent of the town of Marjayoun is still here, with all others having left. Shops are all boarded up, restaurants are mostly shut, and only a few places are open by the few people who have chosen to stay behind.
A lot of people who used to live here are now displaced across Lebanon, living in repurposed schools. So, there’s a lot of fear, there’s a lot of concern with the intensification of these strikes between Israel and Hezbollah.
You are going to see more people leaving in larger numbers all over southern Lebanon.
