The death toll from an Israeli airstrike on a southern Beirut suburb has risen to five, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
Three women and two children were killed and more than 70 were injured in Tuesday’s attack, the ministry said.
The Israeli military said it killed Fuad Shukr, the most senior military commander of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization and head of its strategic unit, in the attack.
The secretary-general of Lebanon’s High Relief Committee, General Mohammed Kheir, inspected the area where the attack occurred and promised that all damage would be covered by the state, according to the official NNA news agency.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib discussed recent developments in Lebanon and the region and ways to prevent the spread of war during his meeting with Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Chief of UN Peacekeeping Operations.
“The military option pursued by the Israeli government aims to plunge the region into a spiral of war that will only bring destruction and devastation to everyone,” said Bou Habib during the meeting, which was also attended by the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis -Plasschaert.
Ensuring security in southern Lebanon will only happen through diplomatic means, a ceasefire and a full commitment to all relevant UN resolutions, especially Resolution 1701, which remains the only way to prevent further violence, death and devastation , he added.
UN Security Council Resolution 1701 was intended to resolve the 2006 Lebanon War with Israel. It calls for a complete cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from certain areas of Lebanon and urges Hezbollah to retreat behind the Litani River, 30 kilometers from Lebanon’s border with Israel.
