Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon: 21 killed, 6 soldiers among 41 injured

At least 21 people were killed and 41 others injured in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, according to Lebanese sources. The sources, who spoke anonymously, said the Israeli warplanes launched 16 raids in Lebanon and nine more in eastern Lebanon during the afternoon and evening hours, leaving 21 dead and 41 injured.

Among the attacked individuals were six Lebanese soldiers who were wounded in an Israeli drone attack on a military checkpoint at the Hosh al-Sayyed Ali crossing in Lebanon, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, Lebanese civil defence sources told Xinhua that an Israeli raid destroyed a three-storey building in the village of Karak, east of Lebanon, killing nine people and wounding 14. "The civil defence personnel, in cooperation with the Lebanese Red Cross, recovered five bodies and eight wounded from a building destroyed by an Israeli raid in the town of Rayaq, Lebanon," the sources added.

In addition, seven bodies and 13 injured individuals were found in the town of Mahrouna and the village of Maifadoun, both located in southern Lebanon, according to the sources. Since late September, the Israeli army has launched intensive attacks on Lebanon in a dangerous escalation with Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) launched a humanitarian air bridge operation, consisting of three flights from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Italy's Brindisi to provide aid for Lebanon amid the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

The first flight will reach Beirut on Friday, carrying supplies including hygiene items, blankets and emergency shelter kits, among other items, said a statement released by the EU's delegation to Lebanon, Xinhua reported. Further aid from Greece will be transported in the coming days, while aid from Spain, Slovakia, Poland, France and Belgium has been delivered to Beirut since last week, it said.

"Supplies donated by member states include medicines and medical items crucial to assisting people in Lebanon lacking access to emergency health care, particularly the forcibly displaced," it said.

Since 23 September, the Israeli army has been conducting intensive airstrikes across Lebanon in a dangerous escalation with Hezbollah. It has also launched a "limited" ground military operation in Lebanon. Since 8 October 2023, Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been exchanging fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border, killing at least 2,141 people and injuring 10,099 others, the Lebanese health ministry reported on Wednesday.

The UN's acting emergency relief coordinator Joyce Msuya has allocated $8 million from the central emergency response fund to support the response to the newly arrived refugees at Syrian border points.

Since the start of the escalation of hostilities in Lebanon, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent have distributed relief items to more than 250,000 people at the Syrian crossing points, including hygiene kits, blankets, winter clothes, food and water, said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, at a daily briefing on Thursday.

UNHCR has also established a dedicated help desk at the border crossing point for UNHCR and Syrian Arab Red Crescent lawyers to organise legal counselling and assistance for new arrivals, he said. Haq said the funds from the central emergency response fund will help to scale up the emergency response, including shelter, food, protection and cash assistance both at the border crossings and in destination areas in Syria, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that the road through the main border crossing between Syria and Lebanon remains inoperable for vehicles following an airstrike on October 4. "This has significantly affected the movement of civilians fleeing hostilities in Lebanon, with people now faced with crossing on foot around large craters left by the attack or resorting to longer journeys through other routes."

OCHA said this has also disrupted a vital route to transport commodities between the two countries and has caused delays in the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the area.

The office reported that a missile strike in the densely populated Mazzeh neighbourhood of Damascus on Wednesday hit a residential and commercial building, about half a kilometre away from a UN office, claiming seven lives and leaving several others injured.

"All parties should respect their obligations under international law — including international humanitarian law, as applicable — and all concerned should avoid attacks that could harm civilians and damage civilian infrastructure," OCHA said.