Fresh Israeli Airstrikes Kill 45 In Lebanon; US Prepares To Strengthen Military Presence In Middle East | Top Points

Lebanese authorities have reported that Israeli airstrikes in the country's northeast have raised the death toll to at least 45, targeting rural villages that had previously avoided significant damage in the ongoing conflict with Hezbollah.

In response to the escalating situation, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the deployment of additional bomber aircraft and Navy warships to the Middle East to strengthen U.S. military presence in the region.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles from Lebanon into Israel in solidarity with Hamas immediately after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza. This yearlong cross-border fighting boiled over on Oct. 1, when Israeli forces launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon for the first time since 2006.

Overall, U.N. agencies estimate that Israel's ground invasion and bombardment of Lebanon has displaced 1.4 million people there. Residents of Israel's northern communities near Lebanon, roughly 60,000 people, have also been displaced for more than a year.

Middle East Crisis | Top Points

• Lebanese authorities reported that Israeli airstrikes in the country's northeast have raised the death toll to at least 45, with the governor of Baalbek confirming 41 deaths from attacks on nine previously spared rural villages, marking a significant increase from earlier reports.

• In Lebanon's capital, Israeli planes struck the southern suburb of Dahiyeh overnight for the first time in four days, targeting Hezbollah sites and causing panic, while the military warned residents to evacuate nine locations; however, there were no immediate reports of casualties amidst the ongoing fears of bombings.

• US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered several B-52 Stratofortress bomber aircraft, tanker aircraft and Navy destroyers to deploy to the Middle East to bolster US presence in the region.

• Israel launched waves of deadly airstrikes across Lebanon and Gaza that killed at least 24 people in Lebanon's northeast on Friday, according to the state-run National News Agency.

• Meanwhile in central Gaza, Palestinians recovered the bodies of 25 people killed in a barrage of Israeli attacks that began Thursday, hospital officials said. Israel said it targeted Hamas infrastructure near the Nuseirat refugee camp.

• A barrage of Israeli airstrikes on central Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp killed at least 21 Palestinians — including an 18-month-old and his 10-year-old sister — according to health officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Israeli strikes also hit a motorcycle in Zuwaida and a house in Deir al-Balah, killing four more people, hospital officials said, bringing the overall death toll in Gaza to 25 on Friday.

• The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Friday that a total of 55 people had been killed in the past 24 hours and that another 196 had been wounded.