2026-10-22T16:00:22+00:00

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Shafaq News- Beirut

Israeli airstrikes,
drone attacks and shelling hit a string of towns across southern Lebanon on
Thursday, while drones continued flying over the capital, Beirut.

According to the
state-run National News Agency, airstrikes targeted the Marjayoun plain near a
treatment plant, al-Qantara, al-Mansouri, and Nabatieh al-Fawqa. A drone
dropped explosive canisters on homes in Bani Hayyan. Heavy shelling also struck
Zawtar al-Sharqiya, Mayfadoun, Kfar Tebnit, the Mazraat Beyout al-Siyad area,
Wadi Zebqin and the outskirts of al-Habbariyeh.

No casualty figures
were immediately available.

Israeli Defense
Minister Israel Katz warned earlier that any rocket or drone fire at Israel
would prompt strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah.
Israel could also seize more territory toward Nabatieh and the Litani River if
Hezbollah joined an Iranian attack on Israel, Katz said, adding that residents
of any newly seized areas would be evacuated, and the territory would become a
permanent part of what Israel calls its security zone.

Israel will not
withdraw from southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed across the country,
according to Katz, who said Israeli forces had demolished more than 60 villages
and 23,000 homes in a zone of about 700 square kilometers and displaced some
200,000 residents.

Israeli attacks have
killed 4,389 people and wounded 12,424 in Lebanon since March 2, according to
Lebanon’s Health Ministry, bringing the overall toll since October 2023 to
8,956 killed and 30,660 wounded as of October 12.

The strikes continue
despite a US-sponsored framework agreement signed by Lebanon and Israel in
June. Lebanese officials, including President Joseph Aoun, PM Nawaf Salam, and
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, repeatedly said that Israel was violating the
deal by continuing operations in southern villages.