2,792 killed, 12,772 injured in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon: health ministry

BEIRUT, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon since the beginning of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict on Oct. 8, 2023, reached 2,792, while injuries went up to 12,772, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported on Tuesday.

On Monday alone, 82 people were killed and 180 others injured, the ministry added.

Moreover, Lebanese military sources said the Israeli military on Tuesday conducted over 50 airstrikes on around 30 villages, towns and cities in southern Lebanon.

The sources, who spoke anonymously, added the most intense strike occurred in the Saida neighborhood of the southern city of Sidon, where three buildings were targeted, resulting in six deaths and 37 injuries, the majority of whom were displaced individuals.

Israeli warplanes also conducted three airstrikes on the border road connecting Lebanon and Syria with six air-to-ground missiles, impeding the movement of pedestrians traveling in both directions between the two countries, said the sources.

Meanwhile, clashes are still ongoing between Hezbollah elements and Israeli forces that managed to infiltrate Lebanon's southeastern village of Khiam, according to the sources.

"Heavy machine guns, artillery shells, and rockets are being used in the clashes, while Israeli warplanes are carrying out intensive raids on the center of the village," they added, noting that following the Israeli advance into Khiam, contact was lost with 17 Lebanese civilians living in one of its houses.

Hezbollah said Tuesday in separate statements that its fighters "attacked Israeli headquarters and sites with missiles and drones, including the kibbutzim of Snir, Dafna, Dan and the moshavim of Zar'it and Beit Hillel, all located in northern Israel, as well as the Israeli town of Ma'alot."

It added that an Israeli Hermes 900 drone was shot down in the airspace of the southeastern Lebanese town of Marjeyoun.

Since September 23, the Israeli army has conducted intensive attacks on Lebanon in an escalation with Hezbollah. Earlier this month, Israel initiated a ground operation across its northern border into Lebanon.