The death toll in Israeli attacks across Lebanon today has risen to 356, the Lebanese Health Ministry announced, adding that 24 children and 42 women are among the dead. At least 1,246 people were wounded in the attacks.
Israel’s army says it has struck 1,100 targets with more than 1,400 types of ammunition across southern and eastern Lebanon in the past 24 hours.
Israeli warplanes and drones carried out about 650 attacks, it said, targeting buildings, vehicles and infrastructure.
Israeli forces continue to carry out raids on “hundreds of targets in Lebanon”, it added.
The Israeli military is preparing for the next stage of its operation in Lebanon after launching a massive wave of air strikes on Lebanon today, according to its chief of staff.
“Essentially, we are targeting combat infrastructure that Hezbollah has been building for the past 20 years. This is very significant. We are striking targets and preparing for the next phases,” he said in a statement, giving no details but adding that he would “elaborate shortly”..
US President Joe Biden says he has been “briefed on the latest developments in Israel and Lebanon”.
“My team is in constant contact with their counterparts, and we’re working to de-escalate in a way that allows people to return home safely,” said Biden, who met United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the White House.
Earlier, the Pentagon said the US would be sending additional troops to the Middle East in response to developments in Lebanon.
The US is Israel’s top diplomatic and military backer. It is also Israel’s main weapons provider, giving it at least $3.8bn in military aid annually.
Rights advocates and analysts have repeatedly accused the US of acting as both an “arsonist and firefighter” by refusing to leverage military assistance to Israel to end the war on Gaza, which has killed more than 41,000 people and risks igniting a wider conflict in the region.
We’ve been reporting on the Israeli army’s bombing of the Bir al-Abed area of the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs, which have injured an unspecified number of people, according to the National News Agency.
Video posted by media in Lebanon and verified by Al Jazeera shows people gathered around the scene of the attack as ambulances move through the crowd.
