Israeli strikes knock Baalbek hospital out of service as Lebanon border fighting intensifies

Heavy Israeli strikes in east Lebanon have temporarily put a hospital out of operation, while a northern village is reeling from a massacre on Monday and a family of four has been killed in the south.

The Al-Murtada Hospital in the Baalbek district was damaged by heavy bombardment overnight on Monday and into the early hours of Tuesday.

Israel struck several towns and villages across the northern and central Beqaa region, where Baalbek is located.

"Al-Murtada Hospital was temporarily out of service due to the violent raids that took place yesterday in Baalbek, which caused damage to it. The hospital administrators are carrying out the necessary repairs so that it can return to service as quickly as possible," Baalbek-Hermel Governor Bachir Khodr wrote on X.

Khodr denied reports that an archaeological site was damaged by the strikes.

The governor shared before and after photos on X of the 13th-century Muslim shrine in Duris, south of the city of Baalbek, saying that while there was destruction around the Qubbat Duris site, the historic site itself was untouched.

Israeli airstrikes have previously fallen close to the grand Baalbek temple complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Caretaker Lebanese Culture Minister Mohammad Mortada has told The New Arab that while his ministry has called on the UN body to protect the site, he expected Israel to commit "any sort" of war crime.

Elsewhere in the Beqaa, three rescuers from the Islamic Health Authority were killed when an airstrike hit their centre in the village of Qilya in the Western Beqaa district.

Several members of the privately run healthcare organisation have been repeatedly targeted by Israel during its latest offensive on Lebanon.

They, along with state-run medical and rescue authorities, have frequently been warned by Israel to evacuate or stay away from certain areas which have been hit, or risk being targeted.

Day after Aito massacre

In the north, residents of the village of Aito in the Zgharta district were still shocked by the Monday strike which levelled a building, killing at least 22 people - or everyone inside. 

It was one of the single deadliest attacks in days.

The southern village of Aytaroun on Tuesday mourned those killed in the strike.

The owner of the property told local media that he rented his house to families displaced from south Lebanon.

The attack was the first strike on the area since year-long cross-border fighting between Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and Israel spiralled into a full-blown war on 23 September when Israel widened its aerial offensive on Lebanon.

Israeli strikes have largely been concentrated in south Lebanon, the Beqaa, and Beirut’s southern suburbs, but some towns outside of these areas have also been hit.

Around 2,030 people have been killed since fighting between Hezbollah and Israel began over the Gaza war on October 8, 2023, including fighters and civilians. But most civilian casualties have happened since last month.

Calm has prevailed for about a week over the 'Dahiyeh' – municipalities that make up the area south of Beirut. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday vowed to go after Hezbollah "mercilessly" wherever they are, including in Beirut.

It comes following a major drone strike on the weekend that killed at least four Israeli troops and wounded at least 70 others in Binyamina, south of Haifa.

Hezbollah downs Israeli drone

In southern Lebanon, a family of four, including two children, were killed in a strike in the village of Jarjou.

Israel struck several other villages in south Lebanon along the Litani River – which Tel Aviv has said it wished to push Hezbollah fighters to the north of. Now, Israel says it wants to dismantle the Iran-backed militant group and disable its military capabilities.

Further south towards the border, fierce clashes continued between Hezbollah and the Israeli military along several points, especially around the three neighbouring villages of Ayta al-Shaab, Ramyeh and Qouzah.

Since early October, the Israeli military has carried out what it calls "limited operations" by the border which it claims seek to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure. But its troops – about 15,000 of them on Lebanese soil – have been repelled by Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, which has been dealt several heavy blows over the past month after its communication devices were detonated and its senior command structure – including leader Hassan Nasrallah – was eliminated, fired more rockets into Israel on Tuesday, following a large barrage the day earlier.

The group also said it downed another Hermes-450 drone over south Lebanon past Tuesday midnight. Hezbollah has managed to shoot down at least two of the sophisticated Israeli drones before.

Israel said one of its reconnaissance drones landed in a northern Israeli settlement on Tuesday.

Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem is expected to speak on Tuesday at 3 pm local time (1 pm GMT), Beirut-based broadcaster Al-Mayadeen reported.