Israel launches fresh airstrikes on southern Beirut

The Israeli military has pressed ahead with its air and ground invasion of Lebanon, leaving more civilians dead and injured across the Arab country.

In a late Sunday night attack, the Israeli regime’s military struck several areas in Beirut’s southern suburbs of Dahieh. 

Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon killed at least 16 people and injured 59 in the last 24 hours, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said on Sunday. 

Most of the deaths were in southern Lebanon and Nabatiyeh, with additional injuries in the Beqaa region, the ministry said.

Lebanese media said Hezbollah-linked financial institutions were among the targets in the cities of Hermel and Baalbek.

That was after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders for the areas.

Lebanese media also said Israel planted explosives and detonated many buildings in three border villages in the south.

Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported 11 strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, many of them targeting Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a financial institution with branches in southern suburbs of Beirut, Baalbek, and southern Lebanon.

According to Lebanese media, the institution established in 1982 by Hussein al-Shami following the Israeli war on Lebanon focuses on providing loans to individuals to support their economic needs.

It said a strike landed near Beirut's airport, the main entry point of humanitarian assistance to the country.

AFP footage showed a column of smoke rising near one of the airport's runways, as well as over nearby areas in Beirut's southern suburbs.

The strike on Baalbek hit a commercial market housing a building formerly used by Al-Qard Al-Hassan, NNA said.

Earlier on Sunday, the regime carried out several strikes across Lebanon, causing fatalities among civilians.

Israel also targeted Lebanon's coastal city of Sidon. An AFP correspondent said many rushed out of the school-turned-shelter, heading on foot towards the seafront or other areas of the city.

Sidon's mayor ordered the evacuation of the city's municipality and two shelters housing the displaced, according to NNA.

Rescuers and paramedics, including firefighting teams, were instructed to "be on alert in anticipation of any emergency", NNA quoted him as saying.

"We will remain prepared to face all possibilities, and we ask God to protect our city and Lebanon."

Israel shells Lebanese town with banned phosphorous munitions: Report

Israel has also used depleted uranium and chemicals to destroy the infrastructure of the Arab country.

Since late September, Israel has escalated its strikes against Hezbollah, assassinating its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and a number of its senior figures.

Lebanon's health ministry said two people were killed on Saturday in an Israeli strike on a vital highway north of Beirut, in the first attack on the area since last year.

The death toll from Israeli attacks on Lebanon since last October has now surpassed 2,464. More than 11,530 others are injured.

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