Lebanon's health ministry reported at least 60 fatalities on Monday from Israeli airstrikes on several areas in the eastern Bekaa Valley, primarily in the Baalbek region.
The health ministry said the toll included 12 areas in the Bekaa Valley where the militant group Hezbollah is active. Among the deceased were at least two children.
At least 58 others were wounded, the health ministry added, noting that the toll was preliminary as rescue efforts were still underway.
Of the 60 fatalities, at least 16 were recorded in Al-Alaq, west of Baalbek city, according to the health ministry.
Monday's fatalities bring the total death toll in Lebanon to over 1,700 since the Israel-Hezbollah war began late last month, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures.
The real number is likely to be higher due to gaps in the data. Baalbek governor Bachir Khodr decried what he called the "most violent" raids on the area since the start of the conflict.
Baalbek is an impoverished region in the Bekaa Valley that borders Syria. The heavy strikes there on Monday were not preceded by an evacuation warning.
They came as Israel pounded south Lebanon, including the coastal city of Tyre, according to the official National News Agency.
The Israel-Hezbollah war erupted on September 23 after nearly a year of cross-border fire between the two rivals. The war has displaced at least 1.3 million people, more than 800,000 inside Lebanon according to the UN's migration agency.
More than half a million people have crossed into Syria, according to Lebanese authorities, most of them Syrians.
(Source: AFP)
Bd-Pratidin English/ARK
