At least 38 people killed in dozens of Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem says he does not think ‘political action’ will end the war with Israel.

At least 38 people have been killed in multiple attacks around Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley as Israel ramps up strikes on eastern Lebanon, according to the regional governor.

Bachir Khodr, governor of the Baalbek Hermel governorate, said on Wednesday that about 40 Israeli strikes on the province killed 38 people and injured 54 others.

Meanwhile, at dusk, more Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs. This came after the Israeli army issued forced evacuation warnings for three areas in southern Lebanon.

Israeli military spokesperson said on X that residents in the southern suburbs of Burj al-Barajneh, Laylaki and Haret Hreik must leave, adding, “You are located near facilities and interests affiliated with Hezbollah, against which the [military] will act in the near future.”

An hour after the warnings, there were at least four Israeli strikes in the area. There was no immediate report on possible casualties and what was targeted.

For the past year, Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have been exchanging tit-for-tat attacks. The fighting intensified in late September following a deadly attack on pagers in Lebanon, and Israel began a limited ground operation into Lebanese border villages.

Rescue workers search for victims in the rubble of a destroyed building hit in an Israeli air strike on Tuesday night, in Barja, Lebanon [Hassan Ammar/AP]

‘Trained resistance combatants’

Wednesday’s attacks on Lebanon came after Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem said he did not think “political action” would end the war.

“When the enemy decides to stop the aggression, there is a path for negotiations that we have clearly defined – indirect negotiations through the Lebanese state and Speaker [of parliament Nabih] Berri,” said Qassem in a recorded address marking 40 days since his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in a strike.

“We have tens of thousands of trained resistance combatants,” the Hezbollah chief added.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Wednesday that Israel’s attacks on Lebanon were becoming “crimes against humanity”.

Mikati told Lebanon’s cabinet that Israel was obstructing international efforts to end the fighting and that he held the international community responsible for Israel’s “relentless war” against his people.

Speaker of the House Berri met United States and Saudi ambassadors in Lebanon on Wednesday to discuss political developments, his office said without elaborating on details.

US efforts to stop the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which included a 60-day ceasefire proposal, lost momentum last week in the run-up to the US election, in which former President Donald Trump was re-elected.

According to the Israeli army, since Wednesday morning, 120 rockets have been fired from Lebanon to Israel.

Earlier in the day, Hezbollah said it targeted a military base near Israel’s main airport near Tel Aviv. The Israel Airports Authority said the attack did not disrupt operations.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said that since the fighting began last year, more than 3,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, with the majority occurring in the past six weeks.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies