Israeli strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon killed over 100, according to the Lebanese health ministry, in the deadliest attack since war erupted in Gaza on October 7 when the Palestinian group Hamas carried out the worst-ever attack on Israel.
Thousands of Lebanese fled the south, and the main highway out of the southern port city of Sidon was jammed with cars heading toward Beirut in the biggest exodus since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
The Israeli military announced that it hit some 300 targets Monday, saying it was going after Hezbollah weapons sites.
Some strikes hit in residential areas of towns in the south and the eastern Bekaa Valley. One strike hit a wooded area as far away as Byblos in central Lebanon, more than 80 miles from the border north of Beirut.