As deadly airstrikes in Lebanon continue, the hope for a cease-fire dims

An Israeli airstrike in Lebanon hit an apartment building housing Syrian workers and their families, killing 23 people, late Wednesday. The strike came as the U.S. and its allies called for a 21-day cease-fire to allow for negotiations.  

By Daniel Cordova Rubio

Lebanon’s National News Agency says the strike occurred close to the city of Baalbek in Lebanon’s north-eastern Bekaa Valley, which runs along the Syrian border. 

Ali Kassas, mayor of the village of Younine, says 23 Syrian citizens were killed with five Syrians and four Lebanese being injured. Most of the people inside the building were members of one family, Kassas added. Hussein Salloum, a local official in Younine, said most of the dead were women and children, and that rescue efforts lasted through the night and into Thursday morning.

According to local health authorities, Israeli strikes since Monday have killed more than 630 people in Lebanon, targeting what it says are Hezbollah military infrastructures. Israel struck 75 sites overnight across southern and eastern Lebanon, the military said. 

Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel and on Wednesday targeted Tel Aviv for the first time with a longer-range missile that was intercepted. At least 45 projectiles were fired from Lebanon early Thursday, all of which were intercepted, Israel’s military says.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not yet responded to the cease-fire proposal, but his foreign minister, Israel Katz, stated on X,  “There will be no ceasefire in the north. We will continue to fight against the terrorist organization Hezbollah with all our might until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes”. Israel has moved thousands of troops to the northern border in preparation for a possible ground operation. 

Hezbollah has insisted it would only halt its strikes if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, where Israel has been battling Hamas for nearly a year, which appears far from reach despite months of negotiations led by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar.