Israel pounds Lebanon in latest strikes

BEIRUT:

Strikes hit near east Lebanon's main city of Baalbek and close to the southern city of Tyre on Thursday, state media said, after Israel issued evacuation calls for both areas.

The air strikes came as Lebanon's prime minister condemned Israel for issuing evacuation warnings for entire areas and called for diplomatic pressure for a halt to its strikes more than a month into the war.

The strikes on Al-Hawsh near Tyre destroyed six buildings, civil defence said, and coincided with an exodus of civilians from the Rashidieh camp for Palestinian refugees near Tyre, also covered by the evacuation warning, the official National News Agency said.

"Enemy warplanes" also hit Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers in Tyre, the NNA said, adding that "the ambulance team that tried to rescue" the crew had been targeted twice.

The camp, located about five kilometres (three miles) from Tyre, is one of the largest and most overcrowded in Lebanon.

Israel's army later said it hit Hezbollah "command and control centres, terrorist headquarters and additional terrorist infrastructure" in Al-Hawsh.

"From these compounds, the Hezbollah terrorist organisation planned terror attacks against" Israel and its forces, it added.

The NNA also reported Israeli "aircraft launched four strikes" near Baalbek, after Israel issued evacuation warnings covering the country's main eastern city for the second day in a row.

Baalbek is renowned for its yearly international music festival, which has sent an open letter calling for "rapid action to stop repeated attacks" on the city, also home to one of the world's largest complexes of Roman temples -- a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

So far the heritage site has not been hit, although it was included in an evacuation warning.

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted an evacuation call for the Rashidieh camp and other nearby villages and towns on X, telling residents to move "north of the Awali river".

Earlier Thursday, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said "the threats issued by the Israeli enemy against Lebanese civilians to evacuate entire cities and leave their areas and homes are an additional war crime".

He said he was "requesting intensified pressure on Israel to stop its aggression".

On Wednesday, Mikati said US envoy Amos Hochstein signalled during a phone call that a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war was possible before the US elections on November 5.

He said a ceasefire would be linked to implementation of the United Nations resolution that ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Security Council Resolution 1701 states that only the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers should be deployed in southern Lebanon, while demanding the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory.

"We are waiting to hear back from him following his discussions" in Israel, Mikati said of Hochstein.

"Israel's continued escalation, their stances and threats do not leave room for optimism, at least in the short term."

Mikati's remarks came as the health ministry said Israeli strikes on three locations in south Lebanon killed six rescuers affiliated with Hezbollah or its ally Amal.

The war in Lebanon began late last month, nearly a year after Hezbollah began low-intensity cross-border fire into Israel in support of Hamas following its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.

At least 1,784 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since September 23, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures.