Israeli Strikes on Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley Kill More than 60

Rescuers work at a site damaged by Israeli strikes in Yohmor, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, October 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Rescuers work at a site damaged by Israeli strikes in Yohmor, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, October 29, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Strikes on Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley Kill More than 60

Rescuers work at a site damaged by Israeli strikes in Yohmor, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, October 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Rescuers work at a site damaged by Israeli strikes in Yohmor, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, October 29, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli strikes on Lebanon's Bekaa Valley overnight killed more than 60 people across a dozen towns, the district governor said on Tuesday, the deadliest day yet in the area in more than a year of hostilities.

Rescue workers were still pulling bodies out of the rubble on Tuesday morning.

Israel has ramped up its air strikes across Lebanon over the last month, saying it is targeting Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. Lebanese officials, rights groups and residents of affected towns say the strikes are indiscriminate.

No evacuation orders were given for any of the towns struck overnight. District governor Bachir Khodor said 67 people had been killed and more than 120 wounded and the death toll was expected to rise.

"That's only the people who've been removed from under the rubble and we still don't have the final toll. This is the most violent day for Baalbek in the last year," Khodor told Reuters.

The toll included nine people killed in Ram, its mayor Nazih Noun said, including a woman and her four children.

"It's quiet now, but we don't know how we can carry on with the funerals given the security situation," Noun told Reuters.

Large swathes of the Bekaa Valley are Hezbollah strongholds.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on the attacks.

More than 2,700 people have been killed by Israeli bombardments of Lebanon since Israel's military and Hezbollah began exchanging fire more than a year ago in parallel to the war in Gaza. At least two-thirds were killed in the last five weeks alone, when Israel stepped up its bombing campaign.

The expanded strikes have targeted the port city of Tyre. On Monday, Israel issued a new evacuation order for swathes of the city and carried out strikes that damaged the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, which sit within the evacuation zone.

The strikes and detonation of homes have left towns along Lebanon's border with Israel in ruins, according to satellite imagery.



Regional, Int’l Efforts Underway to Launch UN-Sponsored Political Process in Yemen

Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi receives US envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking and Washington’s ambassador to Yemen Steven Fagin. (Saba)
Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi receives US envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking and Washington’s ambassador to Yemen Steven Fagin. (Saba)
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Regional, Int’l Efforts Underway to Launch UN-Sponsored Political Process in Yemen

Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi receives US envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking and Washington’s ambassador to Yemen Steven Fagin. (Saba)
Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi receives US envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking and Washington’s ambassador to Yemen Steven Fagin. (Saba)

Intense diplomatic efforts have been underway in the Saudi capital Riyadh to launch a comprehensive UN-sponsored political process in Yemen.

Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi received US envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking and Washington’s ambassador to Yemen Steven Fagin.

Lenderking briefed the Yemeni leadership on the diplomatic efforts underway to ease tensions in Yemen and launch the political process.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Fagin said the Riyadh meeting was “productive”, revealing that it focused on the economy and limiting the escalation by the Iran-backed Houthi militias.

The terrorist Houthis continue to undermine regional security and peace, he stated.

For his part, Alimi underlined the legitimate Yemeni government’s commitment to just peace in line with the national, regional and international references, especially UN Security Council resolution 2216.

The meeting tackled the “urgency of stopping Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, preventing Iranian weapons from reaching the Houthis, and advancing diplomatic efforts to find a durable end to the conflict in Yemen,” said the US State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs on the X platform.

Lenderking briefed Alimi on the potential regional and international changes in wake of the results of the US presidential election and the options to push the terrorist Houthis to positively deal with UN efforts to launch the political process, reported Yemen’s Saba news agency.

They also tackled bilateral relations between Yemen and the US and ways to bolster them in all fields, as well as American support for the Yemeni economy.

Alimi underscored the need to intensify international efforts to implement the Security Council resolution on the embargo of sending Iranian arms to the Houthis.

Fagin also held a meeting with Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Mohammed Al-Jaber, who described the talks as “productive”.

The officials reviewed the developments in Yemen and the Red Sea and joint efforts to support the legitimate government and brotherly Yemeni people, Jaber added.

They also tackled means to support the UN envoy’s efforts to maintain calm and reach a comprehensive political solution, he went on to say.