Israel has stepped up airstrikes across Lebanon as its ground forces reached their deepest point in Lebanon since they invaded six weeks ago before withdrawing after battles with Hezbollah fighters, Lebanese state media reported.
On Saturday, Israeli airstrikes on the village of Khreibeh in eastern Lebanon's Baalbek district killed six people, including three children, and wounded 11 others, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said.
Saturday's attacks killed two doctors in southern Lebanon, including one in Borj Rahal and another in Kfartebnit, and wounded four other rescue workers, with two still missing, the ministry added.
Israeli airstrikes also targeted areas of Beirut's southern suburbs for the fifth consecutive day. The Israeli military has said the attacks targeted Hezbollah infrastructure, including a weapons storage facility and command center.
Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford, reporting from Beirut, the Lebanese capital, said most residents of Beirut's southern suburbs had fled.
“Now there is practically no one there. “People used to come back and check their homes, their belongings and their businesses during the day, but now that has become increasingly difficult,” he said.
The initial attacks occurred around 9:00 a.m. (06:00 GMT), he said. Following evacuation orders, another round of strikes took place in the afternoon.
“There was another massive wave of attacks in the southern city of Tire and, we understand, also in surrounding villages. “The Israeli military today issued evacuation threats for at least 15 villages in southern Lebanon so far,” Stratford added.
The Iran-aligned Hezbollah armed group fired approximately 65 missiles toward Israel on Saturday afternoon, the Israeli military said.
A soldier was also killed during combat in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army added.
Hezbollah has said it launched a series of drone attacks on an Israeli naval base near the coastal town of Atlit, south of Haifa.
“A squad of suicide drones” attacked “a group of Israeli enemy army forces near a military checkpoint in the Avivim settlement and hit their targets with precision,” it said in a statement.
Israel launched its ground offensive and increased airstrikes against Lebanon in late September, after nearly a year of cross-border hostilities with Hezbollah parallel to the Gaza war.
Israeli army chief of staff Herzi Halevi has said the army will continue attacking Lebanon until displaced Israelis from the north can return.
“Hezbollah has paid a high price, its chain of command has collapsed, many of its agents have been killed and extensive infrastructure has been dismantled,” Halevi said in a statement released by the Israeli military.
“We will stop when we know we will bring residents [of northern Israel back] safely.”
Saturday's clashes and fresh Israeli bombing came as Lebanese and Hezbollah officials studied a draft proposal put forward by the United States earlier this week to end the war.
A senior government official in Beirut said on Friday that US Ambassador Lisa Johnson had presented a 13-point proposal to stop the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. It includes a 60-day truce, during which Lebanon will deploy troops to the border. The official added that Israel has yet to respond to the plan.
Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also met with Lebanese officials in Beirut on Friday and said Tehran was “looking for solutions.”
Senior Israeli officials have repeatedly expressed skepticism of potential truce deals, saying Israel should have the right to enforce any ceasefire. Israel has also demanded that Hezbollah fighters withdraw to the area north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border with Israel.
In Lebanon, at least 3,452 people have been killed and 14,599 injured in Israeli attacks since October 2023.
Israel says Hezbollah attacks have killed about 100 civilians and soldiers in northern Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and southern Lebanon over the past year.
