Israel pounds Beirut suburbs as Lebanon says 31 dead nationwide

Israeli strikes pummelled south Beirut on Monday, Lebanese official media said, and health authorities reported 31 people killed across the war-hit country, most of them in the south.

AFPTV images showed palls of smoke over the capital’s southern suburbs after strikes that began in the morning after successive Israeli military warnings to evacuate.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported a fourth wave of Israeli raids in south Beirut on Monday evening, saying “enemy warplanes launched strikes on (the) Haret Hreik and Shiyah” districts.

The attacks came after a weekend of heavy raids in the area, despite ongoing international ceasefire efforts.

Early Saturday, a deadly strike on central Beirut’s densely populated Basta neighbourhood killed at least 29 people, the health ministry said.