Israeli strike on village in eastern Lebanon kills 12, as Israel calls up more troops there

BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli airstrike on a village in eastern Lebanon killed 12 people, state media said Tuesday, as an Israeli official said the military had called up more troops to Lebanon.

The strike hit the village of Mashghara in the Bekaa Valley late Monday, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.

It came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had authorized more intensive strikes targeting the Hezbollah militant group across Lebanon. The Israeli military did not comment on this particular strike, but said Monday that it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in eastern Lebanon.

An Israeli security official said the military had called up an additional battalion to Lebanon. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Rescue workers say that a dozen bodies were pulled out of the rubble following an intense wave of overnight strikes targeting swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon.

The intensified attacks come three days before Lebanese and Israeli military delegations are set to meet in Washington for direct talks.

Hezbollah is attacking Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and northern Israeli towns, and has vowed to continue fighting until Israel stops its daily airstrikes and withdraws its troops from the country.

In recent weeks, Hezbollah has boasted that it is using new fiber-optic drones that Israeli troops have struggled to intercept, hitting both Israeli troops and northern border villages.

Israel has updated its defensive guidelines in line with the recent developments in its northern areas, telling people not to gather in large numbers.

“What this requires of us now is to increase the blows, to increase the intensity. We will smite them hip and thigh,” Netanyahu said in a video posted on social media Monday ahead of the strikes.

The Lebanese government hopes that the direct talks with Israel, opposed by Hezbollah, will lead to a ceasefire.

Over a million people in Lebanon have been displaced in the war, which was sparked by Hezbollah firing rockets into northern Israel on March 2 in solidarity with Iran.

3,185 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since the start of the war, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Over 9,600 others have been wounded.

The intensified strikes have brought fear in Lebanon of a renewed full-scale war, leaving the capital exposed to possible strikes again.

“By just saying a few words on TV he (Netanyahu) causes everyone to panic and flee their homes,” said Tony Aboud, in Beirut’s bustling Hamra district. “I don’t know what’s going to happen and how long we can live like this.”

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Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, and senior video producer Malak Harb in Beirut contributed to this report.