March 4 (Reuters) – An Israeli strike on a four-storey residential building has killed at least four people and wounded six others in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek with rescue teams working to pull families from beneath the rubble, state news agency NNA said on Wednesday.
The strike was part of a sharp escalation in fighting along the Lebanese-Israeli border since Monday after Hezbollah fired drones and missiles at Israel. Since then, the Iran-aligned group has launched further rockets and Israel has carried out waves of air strikes across Lebanon and sent troops into the south.
Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah, established by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982, opened fire on Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in joint strikes by Israel and the United States.
Hezbollah said on Wednesday its fighters fired a salvo of rockets at a gathering of Israeli forces near the Metula area along the frontier in response to Israeli strikes on dozens of Lebanese towns and cities, including Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The Israeli military on Wednesday warned residents of 16 villages in Lebanon to evacuate, saying Hezbollah activity was forcing it to act against the group and cautioning that anyone near Hezbollah fighters, facilities or weapons would be putting their lives at risk.
NNA also reported several Israeli strikes early on Wednesday, including one on a hotel and another on an apartment in eastern Lebanon.
Lebanon’s health ministry said on Tuesday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 50 people and wounded 335 since the latest escalation began.
(Reporting by Enas Alashray and Ahmed Tolba; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Saad Sayeed)
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