Israel bombards Hezbollah and families flee southern Lebanon as conflict widens

BEIRUT — The Israeli military said it killed a top Hezbollah commander Tuesday as part of a two-day aerial barrage that left more than 560 people dead and prompted thousands in southern Lebanon to seek refuge from the widening conflict.

With the two sides on the brink of all-out war, Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets into Israel, targeting an explosives factory and sending families into bomb shelters.

Families that fled southern Lebanon flocked to Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon, sleeping in schools turned into shelters, as well as in cars, parks and along the beach. Some sought to leave the country, causing a traffic jam at the border with Syria.

Issa Baydoun fled the village of Shihine when it was bombed and drove to Beirut with his extended family. They slept in vehicles on the side of the road because the shelters were full.

"We struggled a lot on the road just to get here," said Baydoun, who rejected Israel's contention that it hit only military targets. "We evacuated our homes because Israel is targeting civilians and attacking them."

Volunteers cooked meals for displaced families at an empty Beirut gas station that first became a hub for relief after a devastating port explosion in 2020.

Israel said late Tuesday that fighter jets carried out "extensive strikes" on Hezbollah weapons and rocket launchers across southern Lebanon and in the Bekaa region to the north.

Asked about the duration of Israel's operations in Lebanon, military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a news conference that it aims to keep them "as short as possible, that's why we're attacking with great force. At the same time, we must be prepared for it to take longer."

Tensions between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah steadily escalated over the last 11 months. Hezbollah has been firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and its ally Hamas, a fellow Iran-backed militant group.

Israel responded with increasingly heavy airstrikes and the targeted killing of Hezbollah commanders while threatening a wider operation.

Israel claimed a strike in Beirut Tuesday killed Ibrahim Kobeisi, who it said was a top Hezbollah commander with the group's rocket and missile unit. Military officials said Kobeisi was responsible for launches towards Israel and planned a 2000 attack in which three Israeli soldiers were kidnapped and killed.

It was the latest in a string of assassinations and setbacks for Hezbollah, the strongest political and military actor in Lebanon and widely considered the top paramilitary force in the Arab world.

The militant group offered no immediate comment on the Israeli claims.

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Lebanon's Health Ministry said six people were killed and 15 were wounded in the strike in a southern Beirut suburb, an area where Hezbollah has a strong presence. The country's National News Agency said the attack destroyed three floors of a six-story apartment building.

The U.N.'s High Commissioner for Refugees in Lebanon said one of its staffers and her young son were among those killed Monday in the Bekaa region, while a cleaner under contract was killed in a strike in the south.

Hezbollah said its missile attacks Tuesday targeted eight sites in Israel, including an explosives factory in Zichron Yaakov, 37 miles from the border. It fired 300 rockets, injuring six soldiers and civilians, most of them lightly, according to Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman.

The renewed exchange came after Monday's barrages racked up the highest death toll in any single day in Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah fought a bruising monthlong war in 2006.

On Tuesday, mourners carried 11 bodies through the streets of the Lebanese village of Saksakieh, some 25 miles north of the Lebanon-Israel border, including those of four women, an infant and a 7-year-old girl. All were killed in Israel's bombardment of the village Monday.

Mohammad Halal, father of 7-year-old Joury Halal, said his daughter was an "innocent child martyr."

"She is a martyr for the sake of the south and Palestine," Halal said and defiantly stated his allegiance to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Israel claimed it targeted sites where Hezbollah stored weapons. Data from American fire-tracking satellites analyzed Tuesday by The Associated Press showed the wide range of Israeli airstrikes aimed at southern Lebanon, covering an area of more than 650 square miles.

NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System typically is used to track U.S. wildfires, but can also be used to track the flashes and burning that follow airstrikes. Data from Monday showed significant fires across southern Lebanon and in the Bekaa Valley.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 564 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since Monday, including 50 children and 94 women, and that more than 1,800 have been wounded — a staggering toll for a country still reeling from a deadly attack on communication devices last week.

The Israeli military says it has no immediate plans for a ground invasion but is prepared for one.

Photos: Israel and Hezbollah step up attacks