Israel hits south Lebanon with deadly airstrikes

At least 13 are killed in a Palestinian refugee camp. Hezbollah sites are said to be targets.

- BY HUSSEIN MALLA, BASSEM MROUE AND WAFAA SHURAFA

The Israeli military carried out barrages of airstrikes in southern Lebanon Wednesday on what it said were Hezbollah sites, including weapons storage facilities, after a drone strike earlier in the day killed one person and wounded several others, including students on a bus.

The new wave of strikes came a day after an airstrike killed 13 people in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh, the deadliest Israeli attacks on Lebanon since a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war a year ago.

Meanwhile, hospitals in Gaza said Israeli strikes killed at least 25 Palestinians.

Hezbollah accused of regrouping

Israel's military warned Wednesday afternoon it would strike targets in several villages in southern Lebanon, describing them as Hezbollah infrastructure, and called on people to move away from the locations. More than an hour later, strikes began in the villages of Shehour and Deir Kifa.

Israel's military said Hezbollah was working to reestablish itself in southern Lebanon, without providing evidence. It said the weapons facilities targeted were embedded among civilians and violated understandings between Israel and Lebanon. Israel agreed to a ceasefire and withdrawal from southern Lebanon last year, and Lebanon agreed to quell Hezbollah activity in the area.

Earlier Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike on a car in the southern Lebanese village of Tiri killed one person and wounded 11, including students aboard a nearby bus, the Lebanese Health Ministry and state media said. State run National News Agency said the school bus happened to be passing near the car that was hit.

Israel's military later said it killed a Hezbollah operative in the drone strike.