100 Killed, 400 Wounded In IDF Strikes In Lebanon, Hezbollah Hits Back At Israel's Military Positions | Top Points

At least 100 people were killed and more than 400 wounded after the Israeli military carried out some 300 strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Monday.

This is the heaviest daily toll reported in nearly a year of cross-border clashes amid growing fears of a full-fledged war between the two sides that could upend the region.

“Enemy raids on southern towns and villages since this morning… killed 100 and injured more than 400,” a statement from the Lebanese health ministry said, adding that “children, women and paramedics” were among the casualties.

IDF Says it Struck 300 Targets in Lebanon

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced in a post on the social media platform X that more than 300 Hezbollah targets were struck in Lebanon on Monday.

The Israeli army also shared a photo showing what is believed to be military chief Lt Gen Herzi Halevi approving additional attacks from military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

“The Chief of the General Staff approves strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon from the IDF Headquarters Underground Operations Center. So far, more than 300 Hezbollah targets have been struck today,” the post stated.

A pro-Israel channel on X also shared a video of IDF jets thundering through the skies over the Sinai village in Lebanon.

Hezbollah Strikes Back At Israeli Military Positions

Hezbollah said that it targeted three sites in northern Israel, including military production facilities, in retaliation for IDF strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon.

“In response to the Israeli enemy attacks that targeted the south and Bekaa areas”, Hezbollah fighters bombed two military positions in northern Israel, as well as the “Rafael Defense Industries complexes” north of Haifa, the group said in a release.

Lebanon closes schools for 2 days

Lebanese Education Minister Abbas Halabi on Monday said that the schools in the country’s east and south as well as in Beirut’s southern suburbs would shut for two days as Israeli strikes intensified.

In a statement, Halabi announced the closure of public and private schools on Monday and Tuesday in the areas due to “security and military situations” that “pose a danger to the movement of students”.

Iraq’s Top Shiite Cleric Calls For Efforts To End Israeli Aggression

Iraq’s top Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, on Monday urged for “every possible effort” to stop Israeli “aggression” against Lebanon, particularly targeting the Shiite Hezbollah movement.

Sistani called for actions to end this “barbaric aggression” and to protect the Lebanese people.

‘Destructive plan’

Earlier, a military spokesperson told news agency AFP that “in the morning there were about 150 strikes.” Shortly after IDF announced its military strikes, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati denounced a “destructive plan” amid intense Israeli strikes Monday on east and south Lebanon.

“The continuing Israeli aggression on Lebanon is a war of extermination in every sense of the word and a destructive plan that aims to destroy Lebanese villages and towns,” Mikati told a cabinet meeting. He urged “the United Nations and the General Assembly and influential countries… to deter the (Israeli) aggression”.

‘Stop all non-essential surgery’

Lebanon’s health ministry on Monday told hospitals in the south and east to stop all non-urgent surgery in order to handle the wounded from intense Israeli strikes. The ministry “asks all hospitals” in south and east Lebanon districts “to stop all non-essential surgery in order to make space to treat the wounded due to the expanding Israeli aggression on Lebanon”, a statement said.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant attended an assessment on the readiness of the home front amid widening fighting, The Time Of Israel reported. “Ahead of us are days when the public will have to show composure, discipline, and full obedience” to instructions by the Home Front Command, he said.

‘We advise civilians’

Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military told people in Lebanon to move away from Hezbollah targets and vowed to carry out more “extensive and precise” strikes against the Iran-backed group.

“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,” military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a media briefing.

(With inputs from agencies)