At least 40 killed in Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon

In Pictures

People and rescuers try to put out a fire at the site of an Israeli air strike in Lebanon's eastern city of Baalbek. [Nidal Solh/AFP]

Published On 7 Nov 20247 Nov 2024

At least 40 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes in eastern Lebanon, including the main city of Baalbek, with rescuers still looking for survivors under the rubble.

“The series of Israeli enemy strikes on the Bekaa Valley and Baalbek” killed “40 people and injured 53”, the Ministry of Public Health said of Wednesday’s attacks.

The death toll includes 11 people killed in Baalbek, nine of them in the Shikan district, a densely packed Sunni neighbourhood in the Shia-majority city.

An Israeli attack also killed 16 people in the village of Nasriyah, the ministry said.

“Rescue and rubble removal operations are still ongoing in search of missing persons,” it added.

The attacks took place shortly after Hezbollah’s new secretary-general, Naim Qassem, said he did not believe that political action would bring an end to Israel’s offensive. He said there could be a road to indirect negotiations, however, if Israel stopped its bombardment of Lebanon.

At least 3,050 people have been killed and 13,658 wounded in Israeli attacks since the war on Gaza began, according to Health Ministry figures.

Rescue teams search through the rubble at the site of an Israeli strike in Baalbek's al-Shiqan district. [Sam Skaineh/AFP]

The destruction at the site of an Israeli attack in Baalbek, near the ancient city's Roman ruins. [Sam Skaineh/AFP]

Lebanon's Health Ministry said 40 people were killed and 53 wounded in aerial bombardments of areas in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and Baalbek city. [Nidal Solh/AFP]

The destruction in Baalbek. [Nidal Solh/AFP]

People inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike in the village of al-Ain, near Baalbek, [Sam Skaineh/AFP]

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said Israel’s attacks on his country were “crimes against humanity”. [Sam Skaineh/AFP]

The Israeli military and Hezbollah have been exchanging tit-for-tat attacks for more than a year, the fighting intensifying in September following a deadly attack on pagers in Lebanon and Israel starting ground operations into Lebanese border villages. [Sam Skaineh/AFP]