At least three dead as Israel bombs south and east of Lebanon | Israel attacks Lebanon news

An Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon killed at least three people, and further attacks were reported in the east of the country as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the border region.

“The Israeli enemy's attack on Haret Saida initially resulted in a death toll of three and nine others injured,” the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Sunday, referring to a densely populated area near the city of Sidon in southern Lebanon.

Footage confirmed by Al Jazeera showed the aftermath of the attack on a multi-storey building in Haret Saida, showing a fire on the top floor and extensive destruction on all floors.

News agencies also reported another Israeli attack on the town of Ghaziyeh, south of Sidon. According to the AFP news agency, the strike hit a residential building and a child was rescued from the rubble.

“Sidon has been attacked several times – twice in the last few days, an indication of an escalation further north than the Israelis' main operating location further south,” Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford said in a report from Beirut.

Lebanon's state news agency National News Agency reported further Israeli attacks near a hospital in Tebnin, a town in the Bint Jbeil district of southern Lebanon. The mayor of Tebnin said the hospital had sustained significant damage. None of these attacks were preceded by evacuation warnings.

Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli military said it would target Hezbollah-linked facilities in Lebanon's Baalbek area, which includes eastern Lebanon's largest city and UNESCO-listed Roman ruins. At least three strikes were reported in the area.

According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, at least 2,986 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since October 2023, including 18 dead and 83 injured in the last 24 hours.

“With or without an agreement”

During a visit to Lebanon's border on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to push back the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah beyond the Litani River, about 30 km (18 miles) inside Lebanon from the Israeli border.

“With or without a deal, the key to the safe return of our (evacuated) residents in the north to their homes is to restrain Hezbollah beyond the Litani, deter any attempt at rearmament and vigorously oppose any action against us,” said Netanyahu.

In Israel, the military said it intercepted several projectiles fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory, while some struck uninhabited areas. On Thursday, rocket fire from Lebanon killed seven people in the city of Metula in northern Israel. It was the deadliest day on the Israeli side of the border since the war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah escalated on September 23 – as Israel stepped up its attacks after a year of intense gunfire. A week later, it sent ground troops to southern Lebanon.

According to the Israeli military, 38 soldiers have been killed in the Lebanon campaign since ground operations began.

Iran-aligned groups in Yemen, Iraq and Syria have also joined the fighting, while Iran and Israel have attacked each other directly, heightening fears of an even larger conflict.

Separately, the Israeli military reported a ground attack in Syria on Sunday that captured a Syrian citizen believed to be involved in Iranian networks. This is the first time in the current conflict that Israel has announced the deployment of troops to Syria, whose government has not yet commented on the report.

The military did not disclose the exact location or time of the raid, but identified the suspect as Ali Suleiman Al-Eatzi, a Syrian national living in the Tsida region of southern Syria.

The Israeli assault on the northern Gaza Strip continued on Sunday, with at least 35 people killed across the Gaza Strip since dawn.