Israeli forces, Lebanon’s Hezbollah resume crossfire for 2nd day in a row

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) — The Israeli military said Tuesday that it unleashed another wave of airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in eastern Lebanon’s Beqaa region and several areas in southern Lebanon.
“Among the targets struck were buildings used for storing weapons, command centers, and additional sites of terrorist infrastructure,” the military said in a statement, without providing figures on casualties.
The strikes are expected to continue, the military added, stating that it was “operating to dismantle and degrade Hezbollah’s capabilities and terrorist infrastructure.”
Residents in Lebanon should maintain a distance of at least 1 km from buildings used by Hezbollah, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on the social media platform X.
The military reported that Hezbollah had also resumed rocket fire on northern Israel, launching about 95 rockets since early Tuesday, with dozens landing in the cities of Kiryat Shmona, Nahariya, Afula, Nazareth, and Migdal Ha’emek.
According to hospitals in the affected cities, about 23 people sustained minor injuries during the rocket attacks, most resulting from panic while fleeing or from car accidents during the sirens.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah stated that it attacked several airports, headquarters, and sites in northern Israel with artillery and missiles on Tuesday morning, including the Megiddo Military Airport, west of Afula, for the third time “with a salvo of Fadi 2 missiles.”
Lebanese military sources, who spoke anonymously, told Xinhua that the Lebanese military had monitored the launch of over 100 surface-to-surface missiles from southern Lebanon to northern Israel at dawn.
The sources also confirmed that the Israeli air force resumed its raids on Tuesday in southern and eastern Lebanon.
On Monday, the Israeli army launched intensive airstrikes on villages and towns in southern and eastern Lebanon, which, according to Lebanese Environment Minister Nasser Yassin, have displaced about 16,500 residents to Beirut and other areas in Lebanon.
Yassin, also coordinator of the National Disaster and Crisis Committee, stated that the number of shelters used to host the displaced in schools has reached approximately 150.
Earlier on Tuesday, Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad reported that the death toll from intensive Israeli airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon since Monday has reached 558, including 50 children and 94 women, with injuries totaling 1,835.
Since Oct. 8, 2023, Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been exchanging fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border, raising concerns of a broader conflict as the war between Hamas and Israel continues in the Gaza Strip. ■