Israeli strikes kill 60 in ‘most violent day’ for Bekaa region

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Israeli air strikes killed at least 60 people and wounded 58 across the Baalbek-Hermel and Bekaa region on Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said, in what was described as the “most violent day” in the area since the war began.
The National’s correspondents watched a series of strikes hit the region on Monday afternoon, with smoke rising in villages across parts of the country. Witnesses said the strikes intensified shortly after, hitting villages around the historic city of Baalbek.
Baalbek-Hermel Governor Bachir Khodr said it was “the most violent day” since Israel launched a major air campaign against parts of Lebanon on September 23 and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon on October 1.
“There are still more than 15 people trapped under the rubble whose fate is unknown, and work is under way to retrieve them,” he wrote on X.
Lebanon’s civil defence also reported several fires caused by shelling. Sixteen people were killed in a strike on the town of Al Alaq, the state-run National News Agency said, the highest single death toll in the area on Monday. Ten people were killed in a strike on the village of Al Hafir, with another eight killed in strikes on Baalbek.
Attacks were reported in at least eight other towns and villages. A child was also killed and four others wounded in a strike on the village of Brital.
Rescue teams were working to remove rubble from the sites of attacks, NNA reported on Tuesday. The death toll from Monday’s strikes is expected to rise, with NNA describing the reported number as “incomplete”.
Strikes also continued across southern Lebanon overnight and into Tuesday morning, with multiple attacks reported in the town of Jbaa in Nabatieh governorate.
At least 2,710 people have now been killed across Lebanon in a year of Israeli attacks across the country, which intensified last month. Another 12,592 have been wounded, according to the Health Ministry.