At least 14 injured in Israeli airstrike on S. Lebanon

BEIRUT, April 27 (Xinhua) — At least 14 people were injured on Saturday in an Israeli airstrike on Lebanon’s southern town of Sarbin, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua.
The sources, who spoke anonymously, said that an Israeli warplane targeted a house in Sarbin with two air-to-surface missiles weighing 1,000 pounds each, leading to its destruction and causing heavy damage to neighboring houses.
According to the sources, members of the Civil Defense, the Islamic Health Authority, and the Islamic Message Scouts Association rushed to the scene and transported the wounded to the Tebnine government hospital in the central sector of southern Lebanon.
Earlier Saturday, Hezbollah announced that it launched an attack with drones and guided missiles on the Israeli military command headquarters in the Al-Manara settlement and the position of the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion “in response to the enemy’s attacks on villages and civilian homes.”
A Lebanese military source told Xinhua that around ten surface-to-surface missiles and several drones were launched from southern Lebanon toward northern Israel, some of which were intercepted by Israeli Iron Dome missiles, and several exploded in the airspace of the Kafr Kila region and the Marjayoun Plain in southern Lebanon.
The sources added that Israeli warplanes carried out three raids on three towns and villages in the eastern and western sectors while Israeli artillery bombed seven border towns and villages in the western, central, and eastern sectors of the border region.
Meanwhile, Aroldo Lazaro Saenz, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) chief, expressed his deep concern about the ongoing intense fire exchange across the Blue Line, saying that it has caused severe damage to the lives and safety of civilians and has destroyed their livelihoods.
The Blue Line, established by the UN in 2000, spans 120 kilometers and serves to verify the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon. It is a temporary demarcation line until the two countries officially establish their land borders.
Lazaro made the remarks during a meeting with seven mayors in the Arqoub villages.
He stressed that UNIFIL would continue to play its role in facing challenges and supporting communities in southern Lebanon by meeting their immediate and urgent needs and restoring calm and stability to the region.
Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on Oct. 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas’ attack on Israel the day before. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon. Enditem