Israel steps up shelling of Lebanon as officials consider ceasefire plan | Israel attacks Lebanon News

Israel has stepped up airstrikes across Lebanon as ground forces reach their deepest point in Lebanon since they launched an offensive six weeks ago before retreating after clashes with Hezbollah, Lebanese state media reported.

On Saturday, an Israeli airstrike in the village of Khreibeh in the Baalbek District of eastern Lebanon killed six people, including three children, and wounded 11 others, Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said.

Earlier strikes on Saturday killed two doctors in southern Lebanon, including one in Borj Rahal and another in Kfartebnit, and injured four other rescuers, two of whom are still missing, the ministry said.

Israeli airstrikes also targeted areas south of Beirut for the fifth day in a row. The Israeli military said the attack targeted Hezbollah infrastructure, including a weapons depot and command center.

Reporting from the Lebanese capital Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford said most of Beirut’s southern residents had fled.

“There is no one left now. People used to go back to check on their houses, their goods and their businesses during the day, but that is becoming more and more difficult,” he said.

He noted that the first strikes took place around 9am (06:00 GMT). Following evacuation orders, there was another round of strikes in the afternoon.

“There was another big wave of strikes in the southern city of Tyre, and as we understand, around the surrounding villages, too. The Israeli military has issued threats of evacuation in at least 15 areas in southern Lebanon so far,” Stratford added.

The Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah fired an estimated 65 missiles at Israel on Saturday afternoon, the Israeli military said.

Another soldier was killed during fighting in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army said.

Hezbollah said it launched a series of drone strikes on an Israeli naval base near the coastal town of Atlit south of Haifa.

“A group of suicide bombers” attacked “a gathering of Israeli enemy soldiers near a military checkpoint in the Avivim area, and hit their target,” the statement said.

Israel launched its offensive in Lebanon in late September after a year-long battle with Hezbollah on the border that coincided with the war in Gaza.

Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi said the army will continue to strike in Lebanon until the Israelis displaced from the northern areas return.

“Hezbollah has paid a high price, its lines of control have collapsed, many of its operatives have been killed, and major infrastructure has been destroyed,” Halevi said in a statement issued by the Israeli military.

“We will stop when we know that we are bringing residents [of northern Israel back] safely.”

Saturday’s clashes and Israeli bombardment came as Lebanese and Hezbollah officials were studying a draft of a proposal presented by the US earlier this week on ending the war.

A senior government official in Beirut said on Friday that US Ambassador Lisa Johnson presented a 13-point proposal to end the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. It includes a 60-day agreement, during which Lebanon will send troops to the border. The official added that Israel has not yet responded to the plan.

Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also met with Lebanese officials in Beirut on Friday, saying Tehran is “looking for solutions”.

Senior Israeli officials have repeatedly expressed skepticism about ceasefire agreements, saying Israel should have the right to enforce any ceasefire. Israel also demanded that Hezbollah withdraw from an area north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Israeli border.

In Lebanon, at least 3,452 people have been killed and 14,599 injured in Israeli attacks since October 2023.

Israel says Hezbollah attacks have killed about 100 people and soldiers in northern Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and southern Lebanon last year.