Lebanon experiences deadliest day of conflict since 2006, with Israeli strikes killing more than 350

MARJAYOUN, Lebanon (AP) — Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon killed more than 350 people Monday, including more than 60 women and children, Lebanese officials said, in the deadliest strikes since Israel’s 2006 war with Hezbollah. The Israeli military urged residents of southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate ahead of a widening air campaign against Hezbollah.

Thousands of Lebanese fled the south, and the main highway out of the southern port city of Saida was clogged with cars heading towards Beirut in the biggest exodus since 2006.

Lebanon’s health ministry said the strikes killed 356 people, including 24 children and 42 women, and wounded 1,246 – a staggering one-day toll for a country still reeling from a deadly attack on communications devices last week.

The death toll far exceeds that of the devastating Beirut port explosion in 2020, when hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse exploded, killing at least 218 people and injuring more than 6,000.

In a recorded message, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Lebanese civilians to heed Israeli calls to evacuate, saying that “this warning must be taken seriously.”

“Please get out of harm’s way now,” Netanyahu said. “Once our operation is over, you will be able to return home safely.”

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israeli warplanes struck 1,300 Hezbollah targets on Monday, destroying cruise missiles, rockets loaded with heavy explosives, long- and short-range rockets and attack drones.

He said many of them were hidden in residential areas, showing photos of what he said were weapons hidden in private homes.

“Hezbollah has turned southern Lebanon into a war zone,” he said at a news conference.

Israel estimates that Hezbollah has about 150,000 rockets and missiles, including guided missiles and long-range projectiles capable of hitting anywhere in Israel.

The Israeli military announced Monday night that it had carried out a targeted strike in Beirut. It did not provide details. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that the Beir al-Abed neighborhood in southern Beirut was hit by three missiles. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television channel reported six wounded.

Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad told a news conference that previous strikes had hit hospitals, medical centers and ambulances. The government ordered schools and universities to close in most of the country and began preparing shelters for the displaced.

Some strikes hit residential areas in the southern and eastern Bekaa Valley. One hit a wooded area as far as Byblos in central Lebanon, more than 130 kilometers from the border north of Beirut.

The military announced it was expanding its airstrikes to areas of the valley, along Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria. Hezbollah has long had a presence in the valley, where the group was founded in 1982 with the help of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Israel was preparing its “next phases” of operations against Hezbollah and that its airstrikes were “proactive,” targeting Hezbollah infrastructure built over the past 20 years.

Halevi said more details would be released in the near future and that the goal was to allow displaced Israelis to return to their homes in northern Israel.

Hezbollah also announced that it had fired dozens of rockets toward Israel, including at military bases. It also targeted for the second consecutive day the facilities of the Rafael defense company, based in Haifa.

As Israel carried out its attacks, Israeli authorities reported a series of air raid sirens in northern Israel, warning of rocket fire from Lebanon.

The evacuation warnings are the first of their kind in nearly a year of escalating conflict and come after a particularly intense exchange of fire on Sunday. Hezbollah launched about 150 rockets, missiles and drones toward northern Israel in retaliation for strikes that killed a senior commander and dozens of fighters.

The escalating strikes and counterattacks have raised fears of open war, even as Israel battles Hamas in Gaza and tries to negotiate the release of dozens of hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack. Hezbollah has vowed to continue its strikes in solidarity with Hamas, another Iranian-backed militant group.

Associated Press journalists in southern Lebanon reported heavy airstrikes targeting numerous areas Monday morning, including some far from the border.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency said the strikes hit the central province of Byblos for the first time since the start of the exchanges.

Israel also bombed targets in the northeastern regions of Baalbek and Hermel, where a shepherd was killed and two of his relatives wounded, the news agency said, adding that a total of 30 people were injured.

The Lebanese Health Ministry has asked hospitals in southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley to postpone non-urgent surgeries to allow hospitals to prepare to treat people injured by “Israel’s growing aggression against Lebanon.”

An Israeli military official said Israel was focusing on air operations and had no immediate plans for a ground operation. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the strikes were aimed at limiting Hezbollah’s ability to launch further strikes against Israel.

Residents received text messages saying: “If you find yourself in a building housing Hezbollah weapons, stay away from the village until further notice,” Lebanese media reported.

Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary said his office in Beirut received a recorded message asking people to leave the building.

“This is part of the psychological warfare waged by the enemy,” Makary said, urging people “not to give this issue more attention than it deserves.”

Communities on both sides of the border have largely emptied due to the near-daily exchanges of gunfire.

Israel accuses Hezbollah of turning entire southern towns into militant bases, hiding rocket launchers and other infrastructure. This could lead the Israeli military to conduct a particularly intense bombing campaign, even if no ground forces intervene.

An Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb on Friday killed a senior Hezbollah military commander and more than a dozen fighters, as well as dozens of civilians, including women and children.

Last week, thousands of communications devices, used mainly by Hezbollah members, exploded in different parts of Lebanon, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000, including many civilians. Lebanon blamed Israel, but the latter has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.

Hezbollah began firing on Israel a day after the October 7 attack, in what it said was an attempt to force Israeli forces to aid Palestinian fighters in Gaza. Israel responded with airstrikes, and the conflict has steadily escalated.

Israel has vowed to push Hezbollah away from the border so its citizens can return home. Hezbollah has said it will continue its attacks until a ceasefire is established in Gaza, but that appears increasingly elusive as the war approaches its anniversary.

Hamas militants stormed southern Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250. About 100 captives remain in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to have died, with most of the rest freed during a week-long ceasefire in November.

The Israeli offensive has left more than 41,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters. It says women and children account for just over half of the casualties. Israel claims to have killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

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Lidman reported from Jerusalem and Mroue from Beirut. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

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