31 killed, 40 wounded in Israeli raids on Lebanon

Israeli raids targeting several areas across Lebanon on Tuesday killed 31 people and wounded 40 others, Lebanon's health ministry said, in one of the heaviest days of bombing in weeks.

The Public Health Emergency Operations Centre of the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said in a statement that 14 people were killed and 16 wounded in the Burj El Shemali area of the southern city of Tyre.

The statement added that five people were killed and six wounded in the town of Kouthariyeh El Siyad, four were killed and 10 wounded in Haboush, six were killed and six wounded in Maarakah, and two people were killed and two others wounded in the town of Sel'aa.

Some strikes hit near the Beaufort Castle, a nearly 900-year-old fortress in southern Lebanon that UNESCO has described as one of the best-preserved examples of medieval castles in the region. At least three strikes also hit near Lebanon's largest water reservoir at the Qaraoun Dam in east Lebanon, Lebanon’s National News Agency said.

In a statement on Tuesday, Netanyahu said the Israeli military "is operating with large forces in the field and capturing and controlling areas."

"We are fortifying the security strip to protect the northern communities," he said in a reference to a self-declared security zone occupied by Israeli troops several kilometres inside southern Lebanon.

HEZBOLLAH FIRES AT ISRAELI TANKS

Two sources said on Tuesday that the Israeli military had expanded its ground operations in southern Lebanon past the security zone but gave no further details on the extent of the advance beyond the so-called Yellow Line.

That line, separate from the UN-demarcated "Blue Line" marking the frontier between Lebanon and Israel after Israel's withdrawal in 2000, forms part of a proposed buffer zone extending 5 km to 10 km into southern Lebanon.

Israel's military had ordered residents not to return to dozens of villages in the zone, and its troops have been destroying homes in the area.

An Israeli military official said the military was "operating in a targeted manner beyond the Forward Defense Line in order to remove direct threats to the citizens of the State of Israel" and Israeli soldiers, "in accordance with the directives of the political echelon."

Netanyahu said on Monday Israel would intensify its strikes against Hezbollah, while a US official said the Iran-backed group had ignored warnings to halt attacks that risked undermining negotiations to end the US-Israel war on Iran.

Hezbollah said on Tuesday it had targeted Israeli forces and tanks advancing toward the southern Lebanese town of Zawtar al-Sharqiya with explosive drones, rockets and artillery.

Lebanon's health ministry says the cumulative toll from the Israeli offensive since March 2, when Hezbollah fired projectiles into Israel in response to the start of the Iran war, had reached 3,213 dead and 9,737 wounded as of May 26.

The Israeli military said that 10 of its soldiers had been killed since the April 16 ceasefire, six of them by Hezbollah's explosive drones.

The World Health Organization has said at least 608 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli attacks since the truce.

Hezbollah has not released figures for its own casualties.