More than `180 killed in Israeli air assault on Lebanon

Lebanese citizens were ordered to leave their homes in the south and the east amid Israeli bombardments.

Smoke billows over southern Lebanon after Israeli strikes, as seen from Tyre on September 23. Reuters

Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza

At least 180 people have been killed and 700 injured, including "women and children and paramedics", in an intensified Israeli aerial assault on southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley on Monday, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

It marks the deadliest day of Israeli strikes since the start of cross-border violence with Lebanon's Hezbollah in October last year, raising the potential for further intensification of the conflict with the Iran-backed group, which has recently suffered significant security and military setbacks.

Lebanese media described Israel’s wave of attacks as the largest “air invasion” since the July 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said its air force had struck more than 300 targets, killing at least 182 people and injuring 727, “including children, women and paramedics,” according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Strikes hit deep into Lebanon's south in Ghaziyeh, south of Sidon and about 37km from the Israeli border.

The Health Ministry ordered all hospitals in southern Lebanon to suspend non-urgent surgeries and prepare to treat those injured by “Israeli aggression”, while the Ministry of Education announced the closure of all public and private schools and universities in southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as in Beirut's southern suburb of Dahiyeh.

Israel says its wide assault is to enable tens of thousands of northern residents displaced by the conflict to return to their homes by weakening Hezbollah, despite the group's continued ability to launch hundreds of rockets at northern Israel.

The powerful militant group launched hundreds of rockets and missiles amid the Israeli air assault, triggering alarm sirens, including in the city of Haifa

This morning, residents of Beirut and southern Lebanon reported having received warnings from the Israeli army to leave homes and businesses near so-called Hezbollah sites. The latest warnings were issued to residents of the Bekaa Valley amid what Israel called “extensive, precise strikes” across Lebanon.

“We advise civilians from Lebanese villages located in and next to buildings and areas used by Hezbollah for military purposes, such as those used to store weapons, to immediately move out of harm's way for their own safety,” Israeli army spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said. He also announced Israel's imminent intent to launch a wave of attacks that aim to eradicate Hezbollah's “strategic weapons”.

Residents near Beirut reported heavy traffic as people in the south of the country fled towards the capital.

Mohamed Ghamloush, a resident of the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, told The National that the situation in the city was “insane”, with people rushing to leave and roads being blocked. “Cars are going in every direction. I'm more afraid of accidents than of air raids,” he said. “It's completely insane.”

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that one of the Israel military's warning calls was received by the answering machine at the office of caretaker Information Minister Ziad Makary, instructing those inside the ministry to leave the building. The minister dismissed the calls as “part of the psychological warfare adopted by the enemy” and continued working at the ministry as usual.

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed political party and militia, is embedded in Lebanon’s government, institutions and society, leading many Lebanese to worry Israel’s “precision” strikes could lead to high civilian death tolls.

Last week, Hezbollah senior commander Ibrahim Aqil was killed along with 16 other members of the group in an Israeli strike on Beirut's Dahiyeh suburb, which also claimed the lives of dozens of civilians. The death toll is expected to rise as search efforts continue for nine people missing under rubble.

The attack came after thousands of booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded, killing dozens. The explosions came after Israel announced a shift in focus from Gaza towards its conflict with Hezbollah.