BEIRUT: A day of tragedy occurred on the southern Lebanese front on Wednesday after Israeli airstrikes targeted several villages. There were some deaths, including a woman and two children, while at least nine others were injured. Some of the victims remained buried under rubble.
The Israeli warplanes initiated the series of airstrikes following an attack by Iran-backed Hezbollah on Israeli military sites 鈥� involving precise and long-range missiles 鈥� near the city of Safed.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel鈥檚 national security minister, said: 鈥淲e either initiate a full-scale war against Hezbollah or the Israeli public will be informed that there is no government.鈥�
Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of Yisrael Beiteinu, said: 鈥淭he red line turned into a white flag, and the War Cabinet surrendered to Hezbollah and lost the north.鈥�
The mayor of Safed said that 鈥淗ezbollah missiles fell on military bases around the city and not inside it.鈥�
The Iron Dome failed to intercept the last missile, and an Israeli spokesman said: 鈥淥ne person was killed in the bombing and seven were wounded, three seriously.鈥�
Israeli media said that the wounded were 鈥淚sraeli soldiers.鈥�
Israeli fighter jets conducted multiple airstrikes on the town of Adshit in Nabatieh, targeting a three-story building.
One person was reportedly killed in the attack, while several were unaccounted for under the debris.
Ambulance teams were engaged in the rescue operation, working diligently to clear the rubble and search for survivors.
One of the raids also targeted a house in the town of Al-Sowanah, killing a Syrian woman, Rawaa Mohammed, and two of her stepchildren, Hassan Mohsen, 13, and his brother Amir, 2.
Israeli warplanes simultaneously targeted the towns of Basalia and Jbaa in Nabatieh, the outskirts of Zhalta in Jezzine, and a property in Kfardonin.
Airstrikes also targeted the area south of the coastal town of Naqoura, while the Israeli Iron Dome was activated to intercept missiles near the town of Marwahin.
Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli War Council, said: 鈥淭he responsibility for launching rockets from Lebanon does not lie only with Hezbollah, but with the state of Lebanon as well. The response to targeting northern Israel will be strong.鈥�
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday referenced those who threatened an expansion of the war, saying: 鈥淲e threaten them with expansion as well, and whoever imagines that the resistance in Lebanon feels, even for a single moment, fear or confusion, is completely mistaken.鈥�
Nasrallah said Hezbollah was 鈥渕onitoring all developments in the region, and all possibilities are open. When the aggression against Gaza stops, the war in the south will stop.鈥�
He added: 鈥淭he enemy is fighting on the southern Lebanese front within limits and controls.鈥�