Israeli army admits to targeting mosque in southern Lebanon

JERUSALEM

The Israeli army admitted on Saturday that it targeted a mosque in southern Lebanon, claiming that Hezbollah members were present and using it as an operations base.

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

The Israeli army claimed 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 on Saturday, 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.

On Friday, the 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 and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed over 41,800 people, most of them women and children, following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas 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 Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi