Nearly 500 dead as Israel strikes 1,300 targets in Lebanon – Times of India
Israel launched airstrikes on targets across southern Lebanon, killing nearly 500 people in one of the deadliest days of fighting in nearly two decades and fanning fears of all-out war.Some 1,650 people were wounded in the strikes and about 100 women and children were among the dead, the Lebanese health ministry said. Israeli officials said many of those killed were members of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, and argued that the group had placed rocket launchers in private homes.The strikes were a major escalation just days after an attack in which pagers and walkie-talkies owned by Hezbollah members exploded. Israel didn’t take credit for that campaign but the group blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.“I want to clarify Israel’s policy: we do not wait for the threat, we a...