As U.N. meets, Israel pounds targets in Lebanon, sending civilians fleeing

Thousands fled their homes Tuesday as Israeli warplanes pounded more Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, in an offensive that has plunged the country into uncertainty over what Israel will do next and how the militant group might respond.

The strikes came a day after a vast wave of Israeli airstrikes, targeting about 1,600 sites in parts of the country where Hezbollah holds sway, killed hundreds of people and set off a mass flight of civilians from southern Lebanon to Beirut, the capital. The streets were clogged with traffic, and displaced people were sleeping in their cars.

Hezbollah also fired about 300 rockets at northern Israel on Tuesday, according to the Israeli military, keeping up the assault it began Oct. 8, a day after its ally Hamas led the deadly attack on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. Most of the rockets were intercepted by Israel's missile defense system, but about six people sustained minor injuries, the military said.


Tuesday, the Israeli military said a strike on a building south of Beirut, in an area known as the Dahiya, had killed a senior Hezbollah commander who was in charge of the group's missile apparatus. Hezbollah later confirmed that the commander, Ibrahim Mohammad Qobeisi, had been killed.

As Israeli troops continue to fight in Gaza, Israeli leaders have said they are shifting more military resources north toward Lebanon, with the goal of expelling Hezbollah forces from the border area and allowing displaced Israelis to return home.

The Israeli strikes in Lebanon have prompted many civilians to flee their homes. U.N. and Lebanese officials said Tuesday that 27,000 displaced people had settled in temporary shelters.

Lebanon's health minister, Firass Abiad, said Tuesday that 558 people had been killed in Monday's bombardment alone, including at least 50 children.

With the war in Gaza nearing its one-year-mark and draining Israeli military resources, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for the Israeli military, said Israel was striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon with "high intensity" because it sought to have "as short a campaign as possible."

Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters that Israel was not planning to send ground troops into Lebanon.