Ammon News - Israel pounded Lebanon with more than 120 air ​strikes on Tuesday in one of the heaviest days of bombing in weeks, Lebanese security sources said, as Israeli Prime Minister ‌Benjamin Netanyahu said his military was deepening its operations in the country.

The bombing raids further strained a ceasefire announced on April 16 that was meant to halt fighting between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, and came as Iran said the United States had violated a separate truce by striking southern Iran.

Lebanese security sources told Reuters that Israeli strikes had ​hit across southern and eastern Lebanon on Tuesday.
Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes in recent hours had killed 31 people and wounded ​40, state news agency NNA reported early on Wednesday.

It said 14 people were killed in the town of Burj ⁠al-Shamali in southern Lebanon, including two children and three women.

Some strikes hit near the Beaufort Castle, a nearly 900-year-old fortress in southern Lebanon that ​UNESCO has described as one of the best-preserved examples of medieval castles in the region. At least three strikes also hit near Lebanon's largest water reservoir ​at the Qaraoun Dam in east Lebanon, Lebanon’s National News Agency said.

In a statement on Tuesday, Netanyahu said the Israeli military "is operating with large forces in the field and capturing and controlling areas."

"We are fortifying the security strip to protect the northern communities," he said in a reference to a self-declared security zone occupied by Israeli troops ​several kilometres inside southern Lebanon.

Reuters