Lebanon reports 558 deaths due to Israeli bombings targeting Hezbollah

Israel launched dozens of new air strikes on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon on Tuesday, following reports from Lebanese officials of 558 fatalities, including 50 children, in the deadliest bombardment since the 2006 war. The recent strikes targeted around 1,500 suspected Hezbollah sites across the country, with Israel claiming to have killed a "large number" of militants, News.Az reports citing foreign media.

Hezbollah said Tuesday it had launched volleys of missiles at Israeli military bases, hours after 180 of its projectiles and an unmanned aerial vehicle crossed into Israeli airspace, sending people in the city of Haifa running for shelter. The Israeli military said more than 50 projectiles were fired into northern Israel in less than 10 minutes on Tuesday morning, most of which were intercepted.

In Lebanon, one missile slammed into southern Beirut later Tuesday morning, targeting, according to Israeli media, the head of Hezbollah's missile program, Ibrahim Muhammad Qabisi.

Gruesome images of a man's mutilated, charred body on top of a relatively unscathed SUV spread quickly on social media after the strike was reported in the Ghobeiry suburb of Lebanon's capital, with claims that three floors of a nearby building had been destroyed by a strike delivered by an Israeli fighter jet.

Lebanon's public health ministry said six people were killed in the attack, but it did not identify them. Israel's military did not immediately confirm who was targeted in the strike, or whether the intended target was hit.

Monday's raids killed 558 people, including 50 children and 94 women, according to Health Minister Firass Abiad, who said "the vast majority, if not all of those killed in yesterday's attacks, were unarmed people in their homes."

The Israel Defense Forces said it sent thousands of text, audio and video warnings to Lebanese civilians to evacuate from areas being targeted, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing Lebanese civilians, accused Hezbollah of positioning its "rockets in your in your living rooms and missiles in your garage."

"Those rockets and missiles are aimed directly at our cities, directly at our citizens," he said, as the Israeli military posted videos online showing secondary explosions after its airstrikes — proof, it said, that Israel was destroying hidden weapons.

On Tuesday, Hezbollah issued a warning to Lebanese civilians via its media center not to scan a QR code on leaflets dropped by Israeli aircraft in southern Lebanon. The leaflets urge residents to scan the code for information on which buildings are set to be targeted, but Hezbollah claimed they were an attempt by Israel to spy.

"Do not open or circulate the barcode. You must immediately destroy the leaflet because it is very dangerous and can retrieve information from your phone," the group claimed, without offering any evidence.

News.Az