Israel on Tuesday expanded its ground operations inside Lebanon and pounded the country with over 120 airstrikes in a single day, killing at least 31 people, a sharp escalation that has pushed a fragile ceasefire to the brink of collapse.
The Israeli Military, Israel Defense Forces said that strikes hit across southern and eastern Lebanon, marking one of the heaviest days of bombing in weeks.
Lebanon's Health Ministry, as cited by the state news agency NNA, said the strikes killed 31 people and wounded 40 in recent hours alone, with 14 of the dead from the town of Burj al-Shamali in the south, among them two children and three women.
In a statement, Reuters reported, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the Israeli military "is operating with large forces in the field and capturing and controlling areas," adding that Israel was fortifying what it calls a security strip to protect communities in its north.
According to IDF, Israeli forces had pushed ground operations past the so-called Yellow Line — a self-declared buffer zone extending five to ten kilometres into southern Lebanese territory — though the full extent of the advance beyond it remained unclear.
An Israeli military official told Reuters that forces were acting "in a targeted manner beyond the Forward Defense Line in order to remove direct threats to the citizens of the State of Israel."
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The bombardment did not spare civilian landmarks. Reuters reported that strikes hit near Beaufort Castle, a nearly 900-year-old fortress UNESCO has designated one of the best-preserved medieval castles in the region.
Lebanon's National News Agency said at least three strikes also landed near the Qaraoun Dam in eastern Lebanon — the country's largest water reservoir.
Meanwhile, according to multiple reports, Hezbollah said its fighters confronted Israeli troops trying to advance into a town that overlooks Nabatieh city.
The armed group added that its fighters pushed back an Israeli force that had moved toward Zawtar al-Sharqiyah after airstrikes and heavy artillery fire. It also claimed responsibility for a series of drone and rocket fires on Israeli forces in the town, and said it engaged directly with them.
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The April 16 ceasefire, meant to halt hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah, has grown increasingly tenuous.
Lebanon's Health Ministry put the cumulative death toll from the Israeli offensive since March 2 at 3,213 dead and 9,737 wounded as of Tuesday.
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