Israel escalates Lebanon bombardment as officials considers ceasefire plan 

Israel has ramped up air attacks across Lebanon as its ground forces reached their deepest point in Lebanon since they invaded six weeks ago before pulling back after battles with Hezbollah fighters, Lebanese state media reported.

On Saturday, Israeli air strikes on the village of Khreibeh in the Baalbek District of eastern Lebanon killed six people including three children, and injured 11 others, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said.

Strikes earlier on Saturday killed two medics in south Lebanon, including one in Borj Rahal and another in Kfartebnit, and injured four other rescue workers, with two still missing, the ministry added.

Israeli air strikes also targeted areas of the southern suburbs of Beirut for a fifth consecutive day. The Israeli military has said the attacks were directed at Hezbollah infrastructure, including a weapons storage facility and a command centre.

Reporting from the Lebanese capital Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford said that most residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs had fled.

“There is virtually nobody there now. People used to go back and check on their homes, their belongings and their businesses during the day but that has now become increasingly difficult,” he said.

He noted that the initial strikes happened around 9am (06:00 GMT). Following evacuation orders, there was another round of strikes in the afternoon.

“There was another massive wave of strikes on the southern city of Tyre, and as we understand, around the surrounding villages, too. The Israeli military put out evacuation threats for at least 15 villages in southern Lebanon so far today,” Stratford added.

The Iran-aligned armed group Hezbollah fired approximately 65 missiles towards Israel by Saturday afternoon, the Israeli military said.

A soldier was also killed during combat in southern Lebanon, the Israeli military added.

Hezbollah has said it launched a series of drone strikes on an Israeli naval base near the coastal city of Atlit south of Haifa.

“A squadron of suicide drones” attacked “a gathering of Israeli enemy army forces near a military checkpoint in the Avivim settlement, and hit their targets accurately”, it said in a statement.

Israel launched its ground offensive and ramped up air attacks on Lebanon in late September after almost a year of cross-border hostilities with Hezbollah in parallel with the Gaza war.

The Israeli army’s chief of staff Herzi Halevi has said that the military will continue to strike Lebanon until Israelis displaced from the north can return.

“Hezbollah has paid a high price, its chain of command has collapsed, many of its operatives have been killed, and extensive infrastructure dismantled,” Halevi said in a statement released by the Israeli army.

“We will stop when we know that we are bringing the residents [of northern Israel back] safely.”

Saturday’s clashes and further Israeli bombardment came as Lebanese and Hezbollah officials study a draft proposal presented by the US earlier this week on ending the war.

A top government official in Beirut said on Friday that US Ambassador Lisa Johnson had presented a 13-point proposal to halt the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. It includes a 60-day truce, during which Lebanon will deploy troops to the border. The official added that Israel has yet to respond to the plan.

Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also met Lebanese officials in Beirut on Friday, saying Tehran was “looking for solutions”.

Top Israeli officials have repeatedly expressed scepticism of potential truce deals, saying Israel must have the right to enforce any ceasefire. Israel has also demanded that Hezbollah fighters withdraw to the area north of the Litani River, about 30km (19 miles) from the border with Israel.

In Lebanon, at least 3,452 people have been killed and 14,599 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 2023.

Israel says Hezbollah attacks have killed about 100 civilians and soldiers in northern Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and southern Lebanon over the last year.