Israeli strikes on Lebanon kill 40 people around Baalbek, health ministry says

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed 40 people around the eastern city of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley on Wednesday, Reuters reported citing the Lebanese health ministry, and at dusk more strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs.

Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have exchanged fire for over a year in parallel with the Gaza war but fighting has escalated since late September, with Israeli troops intensifying bombing of Lebanon's south and east and making ground incursions into border villages.

Israeli strikes on Baalbek and the Bekaa Valley killed 40 people and wounded 53, the health ministry said. The Israeli military did not comment.

Israel has repeatedly battered strongholds of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut.

The Israeli military ordered residents in the southern suburbs to evacuate several locations on Wednesday. Two waves of bombing followed, one late Wednesday and another early Thursday.

Lebanon's Al Jadeed TV reported there were at least four strikes on Thursday. There was no immediate report of casualties or details on what was hit.

Hezbollah secretary general Naim Qassem on Wednesday said he did not believe that political action would bring an end to hostilities.

He said there could be a road to indirect negotiations if Israel stopped its attacks.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon over the last year, the vast majority in the past six weeks.