31 people killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon Monday

Massive explosions lit up Lebanon’s skies with flashes of orange, sending towering plumes of smoke into the air as Israeli airstrikes pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs Monday. The blasts damaged buildings and left shattered glass and debris scattered across nearby streets. No casualties were reported after many residents fled the targeted sites.

Some of the strikes landed close to central Beirut and near Christian neighborhoods and other targets where Israel had issued evacuation warnings, including in Tyre and Nabatiyeh province. Israeli airstrikes also hit the northeast Baalbek-Hermel region without warning.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that 26 people were killed in southern Lebanon, four in the eastern Baalbek-Hermel province and one in Choueifat, a neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs that was not subjected to evacuation warnings on Monday.

The deaths brought the total toll to 3,768 killed in Lebanon throughout 13 months of war between Israel and Hezbollah and nearly two months since Israel launched its ground invasion. Many of those killed since the start of the war have been civilians, and health officials said some of the recovered bodies were so severely damaged that DNA testing would be required to confirm their identities.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says the war has displaced 1.2 million people.