Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut, Sept. 20. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad said Saturday that 37 people were killed and 68 wounded in the Israeli strike that targeted a building in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday. Meanwhile, during a visit to the site of the Israeli strike on Saturday morning, caretaker Public Works and Transportation Minister Ali Hamieh said that 23 civilians, including children and women, are still missing as a result of the strike, according to local media outlets.
Hezbollah earlier announced that the strike killed two of its commanders, Ibrahim Aqil and Mahmoud Wehbe, along with 14 fighters.
Abiad noted that among those killed were "three children, seven women and three Syrians." He also reported two critical injuries and that 53 out of the 68 injured people have left the hospitals.
Meanwhile, Hamiyeh said, during a visit to the site of the Israeli strike on Saturday morning, that “23 civilians, including children and women, are still missing."
Before Friday's strike, tensions between Hezbollah and Israel had already escalated following the explosion of pager and radio devices across Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Abiad also commented on the radio and pager explosions on Saturday, stating that two people succumbed to their wounds from Wednesday's radio blasts, raising the death toll of Tuesday's pager explosions, Wednesday's blasts and Friday's strike to 70.
According to local media outlets, Abiad described the Israeli attack on Lebanon as a "war crime", noting that there are human remains that have not been found yet following Friday's attack, which reflects the "magnitude of the humanitarian tragedy that the country is suffering from."
These recent events highlight a significant escalation in tensions, as Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in clashes along the Lebanese-Israeli border since October amid the ongoing Hamas-Israel war in Gaza. This situation raises alarms about the potential for broader conflict and its implications for regional stability.
