ISRAELIstrikesonMondaykilled356 Lebanese, including 24 children, says Lebanon Health Ministry. The barrage is the deadliest since the2006Israel-Hezbollahwaras the Israeli military warned residents in southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate ahead of a widening air campaign against Hezbollah. Thousands of Lebanese fled the south, and the main highway out of the southern port city of Sidon was jammed with cars heading toward Beirut in the biggest exodus since 2006. More than 1,240 people were wounded in the strikes, the HealthMinistry said—astaggering one-day toll for a country still reeling from a deadly attack on communication devices last week. The death toll surpassed that of Beirut’s devastating port explosion in 2020, when hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehousedetonated,killingatleast 218 people and wounding more than 6,000. The Israeli military announced that it hit some 300 targets on Monday, saying it was going after Hezbollah weapons sites. Some strikes hit in residential areas of towns in the south and the eastern BekaaValley. One strike hit a wooded area as far away asByblos incentral Lebanon, more than 80 miles from the border north of Beirut.

 

The military said it was expanding the airstrikes to include areas of the Bekaa Valley, along Lebanon’s eastern border. Hezbollah has long had an established presence in the Bekaa Valley, which runs along the Lebanese-Syrian border, and it is where the group was founded in 1982 with the help of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Israeli military spokesman Rear AdmiralDanielHagarisaidresidents ofthevalleymustimmediatelyevacuate areas where Hezbollah is storing weapons. Meanwhile, Hezbollah said in a statement that it fired dozens of rockets at an Israeli military post in Galilee. It also targeted for a second daythefacilitiesoftheRafaeldefence firm, headquartered in Haifa. As Israel carried outthe attacks, Israeli authorities reported a series of airraid sirens in northern Israel warning of incoming rocket fire from Lebanon. Earlier on Monday, Israel issued a broad warning urging residents of southern Lebanontoevacuatefrom homes and other buildings where it claimed Hezbollah has stored weapons. It was the first warning of its kind in nearly a year of steadily escalating conflict and came after a particularly heavy exchange of fire on Sunday. Hezbollah launched around 150 rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in retaliationforstrikesthatkilledatopcommander and dozens of fighters.

 

There was no sign of an immediateexodusfromthevillagesofsouthern Lebanon, and the warning left open the possibility that some residents could live in or near targeted structures without knowing that they are risk. The increasing strikes andcounterstrikeshaveraisedfears of an all-out war, even as Israel is stillbattlingHamas inGaza andtrying to return scores of hostages taken in Hamas’ October 7 attack. Hezbollahhasvowed tocontinueits strikes in solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas, a fellow Iran-backed militant group. Israel says it is committed to returning calm to its northern border. Associated Press journalists in southern Lebanon reported heavy airstrikes targeting many areas on Monday morning, including some far from the border. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said that the strikes hit a forested area in the central province of Byblos, about 130 kilometers(81miles)northoftheIsraeliLebanese border, for the first time since the exchanges began in October. No injuries were reported there. Israel also bombed targets in the northeastern Baalbek and Hermel regions, whereashepherd was killed and two family members were wounded, according to the news agency. It said a total of 30 people were wounded in strikes.

 

TheLebaneseHealthMinistryput the death toll at 182. It asked hospitals in southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa valley to postpone surgeries that could be done later. The ministry said in a statement that its request aimed to keep hospitals ready to deal with people wounded by “Israel’s expanding aggression on Lebanon.” An Israeli military official said Israel is focused on aerial operations and has no immediate plans for a ground operation.The official, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with regulations, said the strikes are aimed at curbing Hezbollah’s ability to launch more strikes into Israel.