Israel admits to targeting mosque in southern Lebanon

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israel has admitted that it targeted a mosque in southern Lebanon, alleging that Hezbollah members were using it as an “operations base.”

The Israeli army claimed in a statement that its air force carried out a “precise strike late on Hezbollah fighters operating from a command center located within the mosque near Salah Ghandoor Hospital in Bint Jbeil.”

It alleged that Hezbollah members were using the mosque for “planning and executing attacks against Israeli forces.”

This is the same pretext that the Israeli army used to destroy mosques and churches in the Gaza Strip.

Earlier, the Ministry of Religious Affairs announced that the Israeli army had flattened 814 of Gaza’s 1,245 mosques and severely damaged another 148 during its intensified bombardment.

In addition to the mosques, three churches were destroyed, and 19 of the 60 cemeteries were deliberately targeted, the ministry said in a statement.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that the vicinity of Salah Ghandoor Hospital in Lebanon was hit by four Israeli artillery shells.

The hospital’s management later confirmed that the bombardment injured nine medical personnel, the majority of whom sustained severe and critical injuries, forcing the hospital to temporarily close.

Hezbollah has been under attack from Israel from across the border since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed over 41,800 people, most of them women and children, since last October.

At least 2,011 people have since been killed, over 9,500 injured, and 1.2 million others displaced, according to Lebanese authorities.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the genocidal war raging in Gaza into a wider regional issue.