More than 3,000 persons have been killed in Lebanon in the past 13 months, AP quoted the Lebanese health ministry as saying on Monday.
This toll is more than double the number of deaths that took place during the previous major conflict between Israel and Lebanon two decades ago, according to AP.
Israel has said it is conducting new military operations to target the infrastructure of militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets into northern Israel.
Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily strikes for over 10 months amid Tel Aviv’s war on the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza.
The conflict escalated in September with intense Israeli air strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon. This included the southern suburbs of Beirut. Hundreds of persons were killed and about 1.2 million people have been displaced, AP reported.
On October 1, the Israeli military launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, claiming that it was targeting Hezbollah weapons, command centres and a tunnel system near the border.
The Lebanese Health Ministry reported on Sunday that Israeli attacks had killed 16 more persons and injured 90 others, which took the overall toll in the country to 3,002. More than 13,490 persons have been injured so far.
The health ministry did not provide details of how many of those killed were civilians and Hezbollah militants. Israel has claimed that hundreds of Hezbollah militants have been killed, AP reported.
On September 27, Israel killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in an air strike in Beirut. Nasrallah led the group for 32 years.
On October 22, Israel said it had killed Hashem Safieddine, the presumed successor of Nasrallah, in an air strike in the Lebanese capital three weeks earlier.
In Israel, 72 persons, including 30 soldiers, have been killed in Hezbollah attacks. More than 60,000 people have been displaced from their homes in the northern part of the country, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.
The bombardment in Lebanon is seen as a significant escalation of geopolitical tensions in West Asia.
Israel’s military offensive against Gaza began on October 7, 2023 after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an incursion into southern Israel, killing 1,200 persons and taking over 200 hostages. Israel has been carrying out unprecedented air and ground strikes on Gaza since then, killing more than 44,000 persons including nearly 16,700 children.
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