Lebanon sees deadliest day of conflict since 2006 as Israeli strikes kill 492
Marjayoun (Lebanon) (AP): Israeli strikes on Lebanon Monday killed more than 490 people, including more than 90 women and children, Lebanese authorities said, in the deadliest barrage since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. The Israeli military warned residents in southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate ahead of its widening air campaign against Hezbollah.
Thousands of Lebanese fled the south, and the main highway out of the southern port city of Sidon was jammed with cars heading toward Beirut in the biggest exodus since 2006.
Lebanon's health ministry said the strikes killed 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, and wounded 1,645 people — a staggering one-day toll for a country still reeling from a deadly attack on communication devices last week.
The death toll far surpassed that of Beirut's devastating port explosion in 2020, when hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse detonated, killing at least 218 people and wounding more than 6,000.
In a recorded message, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Lebanese civilians to heed Israeli calls to evacuate, saying “take this warning seriously.”
“Please get out of harm's way now,” Netanyahu said. “Once our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes.”
Israel's military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the army will do “whatever is necessary” to push Hezbollah from Lebanon's border with Israel.
Hagari claimed Monday's widespread airstrikes had inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah. But he would not give a timeline for the ongoing operation and said Israel was prepared to launch a ground invasion of Lebanon if needed.
“We are not looking for wars. We are looking to take down the threats,” he said. “We will do whatever is necessary to do to achieve this mission. We hope to do it as shortly as we can.”
Hagari said Hezbollah has launched some 9,000 rockets and drones into Israel since last October, including 250 on Monday alone.
The military spokesman said Israeli warplanes struck 1,300 Hezbollah targets Monday, destroying cruise missiles, long- and short-range rockets and attack drones. He said many were hidden in residential areas, showing photos of what he said were weapons hidden in private homes.
“Hezbollah has turned southern Lebanon into a war zone,” he told a news conference.
Israel estimates Hezbollah has some 150,000 rockets and missiles, including guided missiles and long-range projectiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel.
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Pakistan claims to kill 70 terrorists in strikes on Afghanistan
Islamabad (PTI): Pakistan on Sunday claimed to kill 70 terrorists in the military strikes targeting at least seven militant hideouts in Afghanistan in retaliation for the recent rebel attacks in the country.
"Afghanistan has long been exporting terrorism. Pakistan is taking all actions to secure the life and property of its citizens," Pakistan State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry said while speaking on Geo News' programme.
Earlier, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting confirmed the strikes in retaliation to the recent suicide bombings in Islamabad, Bajaur and Bannu, even as Kabul warned of a “necessary and measured response” to the strikes.
In the latest terrorist incident, an army lieutenant colonel and a soldier were killed in a suicide attack in the Bannu area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday.
According to a statement by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Pakistan has conclusive evidence that these acts of terrorism, including at a Shiite mosque in Islamabad, one each in Bajaur and Bannu, followed by another incident in Bannu on Saturday, were allegedly perpetrated by Khwarij on the behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers.
“Responsibilities for these attacks were also claimed by Afghanistan-based Pakistani Taliban belonging to Fitna-al-Khwarij (FAK) and their affiliates, and Islamic State of Khorsan Province (ISKP),” the ministry said.
Fitna-al-Khawarij is a term that the state uses for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
It said that despite repeated efforts by Pakistan to urge the Afghan Taliban regime to take verifiable measures to prevent the use of Afghan territory by terrorist groups and foreign proxies to carry out terrorist activities in Pakistan, it “failed” to undertake any substantive action against them.
“In this backdrop, Pakistan, in a retributive response, has carried out intelligence-based selective targeting of seven terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to Pakistani Taliban of FAK and its affiliates and ISKP at the border region of Pakistan-Afghan border with precision and accuracy,” it said.
Chaudhry said that most of the 70 terrorists killed were Pakistani nationals. "There is ample evidence suggesting that most of the slain terrorists were Pakistanis," he said.
He emphasised that during the 2020 Doha accords, the Afghan Taliban had promised the world that they would not allow their soil to be used for terrorism, but the Kabul interim government had failed to live up to their promise to stop terrorism.
Pakistan on Sunday said that it expects and reiterates that the interim Afghan government fulfil its obligations.
Pakistan also expects the international community to play a positive and constructive role by urging the Taliban regime to stand by its commitments as part of the Doha Agreement to deny use of its soil against other countries; an act vital for regional and global peace and security, the ministry stated.
It further said that Pakistan has always strived to maintain peace and stability in the region, but at the same time, the “safety and security of our citizens remains our top priority”.
Following the attacks, the Taliban Foreign Ministry summoned Pakistan's ambassador to Kabul, Ubaid ur Rehman Nizamani, and handed him a protest note over the attacks, according to sources.
Afghanistan, in a statement, warned that the Pakistani strikes on the provinces of Paktika and Nangarhar will be met with a “necessary and measured response”.
“Our borders and the security of our people is our sacred religious and national duty,” Afghanistan’s Defence Ministry said, adding that “at the appropriate time, a necessary and measured response will be delivered to these aggressions”.
It termed the strikes as a “clear violation” of Afghanistan’s national sovereignty, international law, principles of good neighbourliness, and Islamic values, adding that the attacks targeted civilian and religious centres, calling them “clear evidence” of intelligence and security failures within Pakistan.
The statement said that Afghanistan will not remain silent in the face of continued cross-border violations and reaffirmed the country’s right to defend its territorial integrity.
Relations between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban have deteriorated due to the alleged failure of Kabul to stop terrorists from using its soil to attack Pakistan.
Last year in October, the two sides were briefly engaged in an armed conflict in which 23 Pakistan soldiers and over 200 Afghan Taliban soldiers were killed, according to the Pakistan army.
