BEIRUT, March 6 (Xinhua) -- At least 17 people were killed and dozens more wounded Friday in Israeli airstrikes across southern and eastern Lebanon, according to Lebanese officials and state media.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes struck a house in the town of Majdal Selm in the Marjayoun district, killing nine members of a family, most of them women and children, and wounding several others.
Eight airstrikes also hit the village of Nabi Chit and nearby areas in the Baalbek district of eastern Lebanon. The country's Public Health Emergency Operations Center said three people were killed and 17 injured, with rescue teams searching the rubble for more victims.
Israeli warplanes also struck the city of Bint Jbeil on Friday afternoon, the agency said, as artillery shelling hit nearby villages including Hanine, Aita al-Shaab and Ramyeh. Less than an hour later, an Israeli drone struck a motorcycle in Bint Jbeil, wounding one person.
In Kfar Remen, an Israeli airstrike killed two brothers, the agency reported. A senior Lebanese Civil Defense official told Xinhua News Agency that rescue teams also recovered three bodies from a house hit in the village of Houla in southeastern Lebanon.
The Public Health Emergency Operations Center said the toll from Israeli attacks since Monday has risen to 217 people killed and 798 wounded across Lebanon.
The escalation follows rocket fire toward Israel launched from Lebanon early Monday by Hezbollah, the group's first such attack since a ceasefire took effect on Nov. 27, 2024. The Lebanese government later announced a ban on Hezbollah's security and military activities, restricting it to political work and requiring it to hand over its weapons.
Israel has since launched what it called an "offensive military campaign" against Hezbollah, combining heavy airstrikes with ground incursions along the border and evacuation warnings for areas south of the Litani River and Beirut's southern suburbs. ■
