Lebanon says three killed in Israeli strike near Sidon city

Lebanon’s health ministry said three people were killed and nine others wounded in an Israeli strike Sunday on Haret Saida, a densely populated area near the southern city of Sidon.

“The Israeli enemy’s raid on Haret Saida resulted in an initial death toll of three people killed and nine others injured,” the ministry said. The strike was not preceded by an Israeli evacuation warning.

Also on Sunday, an Israeli strike hit the town of Ghaziyeh, south of Sidon, the official National News Agency (NNA) said.

That strike hit a residential building,  A child was rescued from beneath the rubble.

The health ministry did not provide a death toll.

Several Israeli strikes also hit near a governmental hospital in Tebnin, a town in the south Lebanon district of Bint Jbeil.

Strikes have previously been reported in the Bint Jbeil area since war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah began more than a month ago.

The latest strikes caused significant damage to the hospital facility, according to Tebnin mayor Nabil Fawaz.

Fawaz said that the hospital may be put of service as a result of the damage but an official decision has yet to be taken.

Sunday’s raids on south Lebanon came without an evacuation warning.

The Israeli army on Sunday had called for the evacuation of the eastern Baalbek region ahead of expected strikes there.

Israel escalated its air raids on Hezbollah strongholds in south Lebanon, Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley from September 23, after a year of cross-border fire. A week later it sent in ground troops to southern Lebanon.

The war has killed more than 1,930 people in Lebanon since September 23, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures, though the real toll may be higher due to gaps in the data.