356 killed as Israeli air strikes hammer Lebanon

Israel said it had launched air strikes against hundreds of Hezbollah targets on Monday, killing 356 people in Lebanon's deadliest day in decades according to authorities, as it ramped up a nearly year-long conflict with its Iran-backed enemy. After some of the heaviest cross-border exchanges of fire since the hostilities flared last Oct, Israel warned people in Lebanon to evacuate areas where it said the armed movement was storing weapons.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu sent a short video statement addressed to the Lebanese people. "Israel's war is not with you, it's with Hezbollah. For too long Hezbollah has been using you as human shields," he said. After almost a year of war against Hamas in Gaza on its southern border, Israel is shifting its focus to the northern frontier, where Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas, also backed by Iran. Israel's military said it had struck Hezbollah in Lebanon's south, east and north.

Lebanese health minister Firass Abiad said the strikes hit hospitals, medical centres and ambulances. He said 356 people had been killed, including 24 children and 42 women, and 1,246 wounded. One official said it was Lebanon's highest daily death toll from violence since the 1975-1990 civil war. It was also the deadliest barrage since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

Tens of thousands are fleeing southern Lebanon "due to Israeli atrocities", Lebanese minister coordinating the crisis response, Nasser Yassin, said. He said 89 temporary shelters in schools and the like had been activated, with capacity for more than 26,000 people so far.

On Monday evening an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs targeted Hezbollah commander Ali Karaki, the head of the southern front, but his fate was unclear, a security source told Reuters. Earlier, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said the campaign would continue until "we achieve our goal to return the northern residents safely to their homes". Hezbollah has vowed to fight on until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Israeli military said it had struck about 1,300 targets connected to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and Bekaa valley. "Among the targets struck were buildings where Hezbollah hid rockets, missiles, launchers, UAVs and additional terrorist infrastructure," it said. Hezbollah has not commented on Israeli claims that it hid weapons in houses, but it has said in past that it doesn't place military infrastructure near civilians.

In response to the strikes, Hezbollah said it had launched missiles at a military base in northern Israel. Sirens warning of Hezbollah rocket fire sounded across northern Israel, including in the port city of Haifa, and in the northern part of the occupied West Bank. It also targeted for a second day the facilities of the Rafael defence firm in Haifa. Approximately 180 projectiles crossed into Israeli airspace, an AFP report said.

Israel's military spokesperson said Israeli aircraft were preparing to attack strategic Hezbollah weapons stashed in houses in the Bekaa valley and urged civilians to evacuate immediately. The strikes have redoubled the pressure on Hezbollah, which last week suffered heavy losses when thousands of pagers and radios used by its members exploded. In another major blow, an Israelistrike on a Beirut suburb on Friday struck senior Hezbollah commanders, killing 45 people.

The fighting has raised fears that the US, Israel's ally, and Iran will be sucked into a wider war. Suffering from a financial meltdown, Lebanon can ill afford a war like the one in 2006, when Israel pounded it during a month-long conflict with Hezbollah, inflicting heavy damage to infrastructure.

US is sending more troops to West Asia
The US is sending additional troops to West Asia during a sharp spike in violence between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, Pentagon said Monday. Pentagon press secretary Maj Gen Pat Ryder would provide no details on how many additional forces or what they would be tasked to do. The US currently has about 40,000 troops in the region. As Israel is preparing to conduct further operations, the state department is warning Americans to leave Lebanon as the risk of a regional war increases.