Israeli air strikes kill 492 people in Lebanon

At slightest 492 radical person been killed successful aggravated and wide-ranging Israeli aerial strikes targeting Hezbollah successful Lebanon, the country’s wellness ministry says, successful the deadliest time of struggle determination successful astir 20 years.

Thousands of families person besides fled their homes arsenic the Israeli subject said it deed 1,300 Hezbollah targets successful an cognition to destruct infrastructure that the equipped radical had built up since the 2006 war.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, launched much than 200 rockets into bluish Israel, according to the military. Paramedics said 2 radical were injured by shrapnel.

World powers person been urging restraint arsenic some sides look to beryllium spiralling person towards all-out war.

Lebanon's wellness ministry said 35 children and 58 women were among the dead, portion 1,645 others had been wounded.

It did not study however galore of the casualties were civilians oregon combatants.

Health Minister Firass Abiad said thousands of families had besides been displaced by the strikes.

UN Secretary General António Guterres expressed alarm astatine the escalating concern and said helium did not privation Lebanon to “become different Gaza”.

President Joe Biden said the US was “working to de-escalate successful a mode that allows radical to instrumentality location safely”, portion the Pentagon announced it was sending “a tiny number” of further troops to the Middle East "out of an abundance of caution".

Nearly a twelvemonth of cross-border warring betwixt Israel and Hezbollah sparked by the warfare successful Gaza has killed hundreds of people, astir of them Hezbollah fighters, and displaced tens of thousands connected some sides of the frontier.

Hezbollah has said it is acting successful enactment of Hamas and volition not halt until determination is simply a ceasefire successful Gaza. Both groups are backed by Iran and proscribed arsenic violent organisations by Israel, the UK and different countries.

The Pentagon said it was sending “a tiny number” of further US troops to the Middle East amid the increasing crisis.

"In airy of accrued hostility successful the Middle East and retired of an abundance of caution, we are sending a tiny fig of further US subject unit guardant to augment our forces that are already successful the region," said Pentagon spokesperson Maj Gen Pat Ryder successful a briefing with reporters.

He would not reply immoderate follow-up questions connected the specifics.

Lebanese media said the archetypal question of Israeli aerial strikes began astatine astir 06:30 section clip (03:30 GMT) connected Monday.

“It was horrifying, the missiles flew implicit our heads. We woke up to the dependable of bombings, we didn’t expect this,” 1 pistillate said.

Dozens of towns, villages and unfastened areas were targeted passim the time successful the districts of Sidon, Marjayoun, Nabatieh, Bint Jbeil, Tyre, Jezzine and Zahrani successful confederate Lebanon, arsenic good arsenic the Zahle, Baalbek and Hermel districts successful the eastbound Bekaa Valley, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

In the evening, it reported that a gathering successful the Bir al-Abed country of the confederate suburbs of the capital, Beirut, was deed by respective missiles.

Lebanese information sources said the onslaught targeted Hezbollah’s apical commandant successful confederate Lebanon, Ali Karaki, but that it was not wide whether helium was killed. Hezbollah’s media bureau said Karaki was “fine” and had “moved to a harmless place”.

From the southbound to Beirut, roads were congested arsenic radical desperately tried to permission amid the bombardment and aft receiving audio and substance messages from the Israeli subject informing them to determination distant instantly from buildings wherever Hezbollah was storing weapons.

A household of 4 riding connected a motorbike spoke to the BBC successful Beirut during a little halt connected their mode to the bluish metropolis of Tripoli. "What bash you privation america to say? We conscionable had to flee," the begetter said anxiously.

Information Minister Ziad Makary said his ministry had received an Israeli telephone telephone urging it to evacuate its gathering successful Beirut. However, helium insisted that it would not comply with what helium called “a intelligence war”.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati, meanwhile, told a furniture meeting: “The continued Israeli aggression connected Lebanon is simply a warfare of extermination successful each consciousness of the word.”

“We are moving arsenic a authorities to halt this caller Israeli warfare and to debar descending into the unknown,” helium added.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said successful a connection connected Monday evening that its craft had carried retired strikes connected astir 1,300 Hezbollah "terror targets" successful confederate Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley wherever it claimed that rockets, missiles, launchers, and drones were hidden.

“Essentially, we are targeting combat infrastructure that Hezbollah has been gathering for the past 20 years. This is precise significant,” the IDF’s Chief of Staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, told commanders successful Tel Aviv.

“Ultimately, everything is focused connected creating the conditions to instrumentality the residents of the northbound to their homes.”

IDF spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said videos from confederate Lebanon showed "significant secondary explosions caused by Hezbollah’s weapons that were being stored wrong the buildings".

"It is apt that immoderate of the casualties are from these secondary explosions," helium added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the radical of Lebanon to “get retired of harm's mode now”.

“For excessively long, Hezbollah has been utilizing you arsenic quality shields. It placed rockets successful your surviving rooms and missiles successful your garage,” helium said. “To support our radical against Hezbollah strikes, we indispensable instrumentality retired these weapons.”

A elder Israeli subject authoritative insisted that the IDF was “currently focusing connected Israel’s aerial run only” aft being asked by reporters if a crushed penetration of confederate Lebanon was imminent to make a buffer zone.

The authoritative said Israel had 3 aims - to degrade Hezbollah's quality to occurrence rockets and missiles implicit the Lebanon-Israel border, to propulsion its fighters backmost from the frontier, and to destruct the infrastructure built by Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force which could beryllium utilized to onslaught Israeli communities.

Hezbollah did not remark connected the Israeli claims that it had hidden weapons successful houses, and its media bureau had announced the decease of lone 1 combatant by Monday evening.

But successful a motion that it is improbable to backmost down, it said it had responded to the “Israeli enemy’s attacks” by firing barrages of rockets astatine respective Israeli subject bases successful bluish Israel, arsenic good arsenic a weapons manufacturing installation successful the coastal Zvulun area, northbound of the metropolis of Haifa.

The IDF said 210 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon by the evening, and that an unspecified fig had landed successful the Lower Galilee and Upper Galilee regions, successful Haifa and the adjacent areas of Carmel, HaAmakim and Hamifratz areas, and successful the occupied Golan Heights.

One location was severely damaged by a rocket successful Givat Avni, successful the Lower Galilee.

Resident David Yitzhak told the BBC that he, his woman and six-year-old girl were unharmed due to the fact that they had managed to get down the coagulated doorway of the house's harmless country seconds earlier, erstwhile a informing siren sounded.

“It’s a metre from beingness to death,” helium said.

Israel’s ambulance work said it treated 2 radical with shrapnel wounds successful the Lower and Upper Galilee regions, and that different idiosyncratic was injured arsenic they rushed to a shelter.

On Sunday, Hezbollah launched much than 150 rockets and drones crossed the border, portion Israeli jets struck hundreds of targets crossed confederate Lebanon.

Hezbollah remains a almighty force, contempt being weakened by what Israel’s defence curate described arsenic “the astir hard week” for the radical since its establishment.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, 39 radical were killed and thousands were wounded aft thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies utilized by Hezbollah exploded. And connected Friday, Hezbollah said astatine slightest 16 members, including apical commanders of its elite Radwan Force, were among 45 radical killed successful an Israeli aerial onslaught successful confederate Beirut.

Speaking astatine a ceremonial connected Sunday, Hezbollah's lawman person Naim Qassem said the radical would not beryllium deterred.

"We person entered a caller phase,” helium said, “the rubric of which is the open-ended conflict of reckoning."

On the streets of Beirut, 1 young antheral told the BBC that helium was "very frightened of the warfare escalating" due to the fact that it would “ origin a batch of disaster, it volition halt students going to university".

But different antheral was defiant, saying: "We're not scared, we person to basal tall, we person to support ourselves."