Beijing, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Israel struck Homs province in central Syria and the southern border area of Lebanon on Feb. 7, killing and injuring many people, including civilians.
The Syrian Ministry of Defense said on the 7th that Israel launched airstrikes on a number of targets in Homs City, the capital of Homs Province, and surrounding villages on the same day, killing and injuring many civilians. According to Syrian officials**, the attack caused a building to collapse, and the search and rescue continues.
Rescuers inspect the site of an airstrike in the Syrian province of Homs in the city of Homs on February 7. Xinhua News Agency.
The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israeli airstrikes killed 11 people in the city of Homs, including seven civilians and two Lebanese Allah fighters, and razed a building in the Hamra neighborhood.
Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the Israeli army has repeatedly carried out air strikes on targets in Syria on the pretext of striking Iranian military facilities, and both Syria and Iran** have denied that Iran has troops in Syria. According to Agence France-Presse, since the outbreak of a new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict on October 7 last year, Israel has stepped up air strikes on targets in Syria.
Israel also carried out airstrikes on the southern border area of Lebanon on the 7th, killing one civilian and injuring two people in the village of Khiam.
According to the Lebanese state news agency, Israeli forces launched a drone attack on the village of Khiam and attacked several locations along the southern border with Lebanon, including a water pumping station in the Wazani plain.
Israeli army spokesman Avikai Adraj said that the Israeli army targeted Lebanese Allah strongholds.
Since the outbreak of the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Lebanese Allah Party has attacked northern Israel with rockets and anti-tank missiles, instigated the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and forced Israel to evacuate nearly 100,000 border residents. The Israeli army continued to carry out air strikes and artillery shelling of targets in southern Lebanon.
According to Agence France-Presse, the border clashes between the two countries have killed more than 220 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Lebanese Allah fighters; Fifteen Israeli people were killed, nine of whom were Israeli soldiers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on the 7th that Israel will not accept the situation of nearly 100,000 citizens in the north being forced to leave their homes, and the northern border issue must be resolved, "either through diplomatic or military means." Earlier, Israel's prime minister, Israel Katz, said that "time is running out" for diplomatic avenues.
Western countries are actively mediating in order to avoid the escalation of the border conflict between Lebanon and Israel. Recently, Western countries, including British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and French Foreign Minister Stefana Céjourne, visited the Middle East, both of which visited Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.
The Associated Press quoted Lebanon as saying that during his visit to Beirut on the 6th, Sejourne warned that the situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border was "very worrisome" and that Lebanon must heed the threats made by Israel. (Chen Lixi).
*:Xinhua.