Ammon News - At least 31 people died in an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb on Friday, the Lebanese health ministry said on Saturday, including three children and seven women, in the deadliest strike in a year of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

Hezbollah said overnight that the dead included 16 of its members, including senior leader Ibrahim Aqil and another top commander, Ahmed Wahbi.

The strike sharply escalated the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group and inflicted another blow on Hezbollah after two days of attacks this week in which pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded. The total death toll in those attacks has risen to 39, and more than 3,000 were injured.

Reuters