CNN
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More than 40 people have been killed in waves of Israeli strikes across Lebanon since late Saturday, according to reports from the country’s official news agency.
The National News Agency (NNA) reported airstrikes on the town of Almat in central Lebanon on Sunday. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 20 people were killed there, including three children. Video from the scene shows that at least one building was reduced to rubble, with heavy machinery trying to remove the debris.
The local member of parliament, Simon Abi Ramia, said: “The targeted house belongs to one of the well-known residents of the area, and it is possible that it received displaced people.”
Three people were killed in a strike on Mashghara, a town in south-central Lebanon, and an air raid was carried out on the town of Debaal in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon, the agency added, while “intermittent Israeli artillery shelling continues on the town of Khiam.”
At least 2,513 people have been killed and 11,719 injured in Lebanon since September 16, when Israel stepped up its campaign against Hezbollah, according to a CNN tally of Lebanese health ministry statements.
The latest strikes follow attacks on more than a dozen separate locations in Lebanon since late Saturday.
The highest number of casualties came in an air strike on what NNA said was a civil defense center affiliated with the Islamic Al-Rissala Scouts Association in the town of Deir Qanoun.
Seventeen people were killed in the strike, NNA said, adding rescue teams were continuing search operations in the rubble. Video from the town showed extensive destruction.
Five people were killed in an airstrike on the town of Hanawaih, and listed strikes on buildings in nearly a dozen other locations. Additionally, artillery shelling hit the towns of Majdal Zoun, Tair Harfa, al-Dhaira, and elsewhere.
The Israeli military said Saturday that airstrikes had been carried out in the areas of Tyre and further north in Baalbek.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said late Saturday that the air force had “eliminated dozens of Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon over the past day.”
The IDF said Sunday that rockets continued to be fired from southern Lebanon. “Approximately ten projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Some of the projectiles were intercepted and the rest fell in open areas,” it said. No injuries were reported.