Israeli Strikes in the Lebanese City of Sidon Kill at Least 10 People

 Search and rescue team members try to reach victims after an Israeli raid targeted Haret Saida in Sidon, Lebanon, 29 October 2024. According to the ministry of health at least five were killed and 33 injured in the Israeli strike. (EPA)
Search and rescue team members try to reach victims after an Israeli raid targeted Haret Saida in Sidon, Lebanon, 29 October 2024. According to the ministry of health at least five were killed and 33 injured in the Israeli strike. (EPA)
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Israeli Strikes in the Lebanese City of Sidon Kill at Least 10 People

 Search and rescue team members try to reach victims after an Israeli raid targeted Haret Saida in Sidon, Lebanon, 29 October 2024. According to the ministry of health at least five were killed and 33 injured in the Israeli strike. (EPA)
Search and rescue team members try to reach victims after an Israeli raid targeted Haret Saida in Sidon, Lebanon, 29 October 2024. According to the ministry of health at least five were killed and 33 injured in the Israeli strike. (EPA)

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 10 people were killed and 37 others were wounded by a pair of strikes Tuesday evening in the southern coastal city of Sidon.

Within a few hours, a third apparent Israeli strike targeted another building in the same neighborhood, Lebanon's state-run media reported.

Another Israeli airstrike hit the nearby Sarafand town and killed eight people and wounded 21 others, according to the Health Ministry. It said rescue efforts were ongoing in the town, which is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) further south down the coast.

According to the National News Agency, the first strikes in Sidon targeted an area sheltering displaced people that was adjacent to a Hezbollah complex called Sayyed Shohada, located a few hundred meters (yards) from a Lebanese army barracks.

The intended target of the strikes was not clear and the Israeli army gave no warnings ahead of the bombing.

Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli military had issued evacuation orders for 16 villages in South Lebanon, instructing residents to move north of the Awali River.



UN Rights Chief ‘Gravely Concerned’ by Lebanon Escalation

Smoke billows above Beirut’s southern suburbs following an Israeli airstrike on November 26, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
Smoke billows above Beirut’s southern suburbs following an Israeli airstrike on November 26, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
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UN Rights Chief ‘Gravely Concerned’ by Lebanon Escalation

Smoke billows above Beirut’s southern suburbs following an Israeli airstrike on November 26, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
Smoke billows above Beirut’s southern suburbs following an Israeli airstrike on November 26, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)

The UN rights chief on Tuesday voiced concern about the escalation of hostilities in Lebanon, where his office said nearly 100 people had been reported killed by Israeli airstrikes in recent days, including women, children and medics.

Israel has been locked in fighting with Lebanese armed group Hezbollah since Oct. 2023, and fighting has escalated dramatically since late September of this year.

"UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk is gravely concerned by the escalation in Lebanon with at least 97 people reportedly killed in Israeli airstrikes between the 22nd and 24th of November," Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, told a Geneva press briefing.

He said that at least seven paramedics had been reported killed in three Israeli strikes in the south of Lebanon on Nov. 22-23, adding to 226 healthcare worker deaths since Oct. 7, 2023. He did not specify how many of the recent deaths had been verified by UN human rights monitors.

Israel says it targets military capabilities in Lebanon and Gaza and takes steps to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians. It accuses Hezbollah, like Hamas, of hiding among civilians, which they deny.