Israel Targets Beirut’s Southern Suburbs Again as Synagogue is Hit in Haifa

Civil defense members work at a damaged site, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut's suburbs, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in Lebanon November 17, 2024. REUTERS/ Thaier Al-Sudani
Civil defense members work at a damaged site, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut's suburbs, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in Lebanon November 17, 2024. REUTERS/ Thaier Al-Sudani
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Israel Targets Beirut’s Southern Suburbs Again as Synagogue is Hit in Haifa

Civil defense members work at a damaged site, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut's suburbs, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in Lebanon November 17, 2024. REUTERS/ Thaier Al-Sudani
Civil defense members work at a damaged site, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut's suburbs, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in Lebanon November 17, 2024. REUTERS/ Thaier Al-Sudani

Several Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday, hours after Lebnaon’s Hezbollah said it fired on Israeli bases around the city of Haifa.

Columns of smoke rose over the Lebanese capital's southern suburbs, following a warning from the Israeli military for residents to evacuate many areas.

Further south, overnight Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling hit the flashpoint southern town of Khiam, some six kilometres from the border, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported early Sunday.

The bombardment came after Israel's military reported a "heavy rocket barrage" on Haifa late Saturday and said a synagogue was hit, wounding two civilians.

Israel's military chief said Saturday Hezbollah had already "paid a big price,” but Israel will keep fighting until tens of thousands of its residents displaced from the north can return safely.

Beirut's southern suburbs were veiled in smoke Sunday, following repeated Israeli bombardment a day earlier of the Hezbollah stronghold.

The Israeli military said aircraft had targeted "a weapons storage facility" and a Hezbollah "command center.”

Hezbollah fired around 80 projectiles at Israel on Saturday, the military said.

Israeli forces also shelled the area along the Litani River, which flows across southern Lebanon, NNA said Sunday.

The agency earlier reported strikes on the southern city of Tyre, including in a neighborhood near UNESCO-listed ancient ruins. Israel's military late Saturday said it had hit Hezbollah facilities in the Tyre area.

In Lebanon's east, the health ministry said an Israeli strike in the Bekaa Valley killed six people including three children.

Hezbollah said it fired a guided missile that set an Israeli tank ablaze in the southwest Lebanon village of Shamaa, about five kilometres from the border.

Late Saturday, Hezbollah said it had targeted five military bases including the Stella Maris naval base.



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.