Four dead after Israeli airstrike hits residential block in Lebanon

At least four people were killed and six others injured after an Israeli airstrike hit a four-storey residential building in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek on Wednesday, according to Lebanon’s state news agency NNA. Emergency crews were continuing search operations, attempting to rescue families believed to be trapped beneath the debris.

The strike comes amid a significant escalation along the Lebanon-Israel border that began earlier this week. The violence intensified after Hezbollah launched drones and missiles toward Israel. Since then, the Iran-backed group has continued firing rockets, while Israel has responded with extensive air raids across Lebanon and deployed ground forces into the country’s south.

Hezbollah, the Shi’ite movement formed in 1982 with support from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, has said it entered the confrontation in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in coordinated U.S. and Israeli strikes.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah announced that it had fired a barrage of rockets at Israeli troops gathered near the border town of Metula. The group described the attack as a response to Israeli strikes targeting dozens of locations across Lebanon, including the southern suburbs of Beirut.

The Israeli military, for its part, issued evacuation warnings to residents in 16 Lebanese villages, stating that Hezbollah’s operations in those areas were prompting Israeli action. It cautioned civilians to avoid proximity to Hezbollah fighters, infrastructure, or weaponry.

NNA also reported additional Israeli strikes early Wednesday, including one that hit a hotel and another that targeted an apartment building in eastern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s health ministry said Tuesday that at least 50 people had been killed and 335 wounded in Israeli attacks since the latest round of fighting erupted.