Al Jazeera is reporting Israel has killed more than 182 people in Lebanon so far today in a wave of extensive airstrikes hitting more than 300 targets. Lebanon’s Health Ministry reports the dead include children, women and paramedics. More than 700 people have been wounded.
Earlier today, Israel instructed residents of southern Lebanon to leave their homes if they live near any site used by Hezbollah. Israel sent text messages and made phone calls to tens of thousands of people in what Lebanese officials decried as a form of “psychological warfare.” Israel also hacked into Lebanese radio stations.
On Friday, Israel killed at least 45 people in a massive airstrike on a densely populated residential neighborhood of Beirut. The dead include 16 members of Hezbollah, including two senior commanders, Ibrahim Aqil and Ahmed Wahbi. Lebanon’s Transportation Minister Ali Hamieh condemned the Israeli attacks.
Ali Hamieh: “The Israeli enemy, with all its continued crimes, with the excuse of pursuing Hezbollah, has targeted a residential compound. It has committed a massacre to a residential building, against unarmed children, women at their homes. … The Israeli enemy is taking the region to war.”
Hezbollah responded to Friday’s attack by firing a barrage of rockets into Israel targeting an air base and weapons factories.