Israeli Strike Kills 23 Syrian Workers And Family Members In Lebanon, Officials Say

The strike late Wednesday came as the United States and its allies called for an “immediate” 21-day cease-fire to “provide space for diplomacy.”

BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli airstrike in Lebanon hit a building housing Syrian workers and their families, killing 23 people, Lebanese officials said Thursday. It was one of the deadliest single strikes in an intensified air campaign against the militant Hezbollah group.

The strike late Wednesday came as the United States and its allies called for an “immediate” 21-day cease-fire to “provide space for diplomacy.” Israel has threatened to launch a ground invasion, and the increasingly heavy exchanges of fire could trigger an all-out war.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said the strike occurred near the ancient city of Baalbek in Lebanon’s northeastern Bekaa Valley, which runs along the Syrian border. It quoted Ali Kassas, mayor of the village of Younine, as saying that the bodies of 23 Syrian citizens were pulled from under the rubble. He said four Syrians and four Lebanese were wounded.

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.

“We dug through the rubble with our own hands” until a small bulldozer was brought in, Salloum told The Associated Press by telephone. “We had very limited capabilities.”