Israeli attack on town in far north Lebanon kills 14 people: Mayor | Israel attacks Lebanon News

At least 14 people have been killed and 15 others injured after an Israeli airstrike on the town of Ain Yaaqoub in the far north of Lebanon.

The Israeli missile that struck a building housing 30 people, including Syrian refugees, on Monday marked the northernmost point in Lebanon so far attacked by Israeli forces since fighting began in October 2023.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health (MoPH) initially said eight people were killed and 14 others injured, which Ain Yaaqoub Mayor Majed Drbes later revised to 14 and 15 respectively.

“Displaced people lived in the two-story house,” Rony al-Hage, a local official, told the AFP news agency.

“Rescue and debris clearance operations are still ongoing,” al-Hage said.

Earlier on Monday, an Israeli attack on Saksakiyeh in southern Lebanon’s Sidon district killed at least seven people and injured seven, according to the MoPH, which also reported that a total of 54 people were killed and 56 injured across the country. on Sunday.

So far, 3,243 people have been killed and 14,134 injured in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since October 2023.

Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from the Lebanese capital Beirut, said Syrian refugees and displaced persons from other parts of Lebanon had fled to Ain Yaaqoub, about 10km from the Syrian border.

“There are so many Syrian refugees in that area who have been sheltering there for years,” Stratford said.

“We also understand that it is an area that protects Lebanese people who have been forced to flee their homes from southern Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut and areas in the Bekaa Valley in the east of the country, amid ongoing Israeli bombings,” he said. said.

“What is interesting is that this area is not a Hezbollah stronghold and it is the second day in a row that we have seen an attack in such an area,” he added.

Commenting on the attack on Ain Yaaqoub, the Israeli army said its forces targeted a “military structure with a terrorist inside” and had taken measures to minimize damage to the civilian population, claiming that the reports about numerous victims were exaggerated.

The Israeli military also reported Monday that Hezbollah had fired about 165 rockets into northern Israel.

According to the Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom, a total of six people were injured in northern Israel as a result of the attacks, including a one-year-old child.

Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s main newspaper, reported on Monday that Israel and Lebanon had exchanged drafts of a proposed ceasefire through US envoy Amos Hochstein, signaling progress in efforts to reach an agreement.

A Hezbollah official also acknowledged that diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire had intensified, but said neither the Lebanese group nor the government had received any new proposals.

“There is a big movement between Washington and Moscow and Tehran and some capitals,” Mohammad Afif, head of Hezbollah’s media office, said at a televised news conference on Monday.

“I believe we are still in the phase of testing the waters and presenting initial ideas and proactive discussions, but nothing concrete yet.”