Bekaa Valley Sees “Most Violent Day” Since Start of War
At least 67 people were killed and more than 120 others wounded in nearly three dozen Israeli strikes on the Bekaa valley on Monday, October 28, in what Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed called the “most violent day” in the Bekaa valley since the start of the war. “More than two-thirds” of the victims were women and children, according to Baalbek-Hermel Governor Bachir Khodr, and Israel gave no notice ahead of these strikes.
The bombing campaign continued into Tuesday and Wednesday, when the Israeli military issued a displacement notice for the entirety of Baalbek city, and parts of Duris and Iaat. Massive traffic congestion was reported as thousands of people fled the area. A new round of airstrikes on Baalbek began on Wednesday coinciding with Naim Qassem’s first speech as Hezbollah’s new secretary general.
A man walks through rubble after an Israeli strike on Duris, Baalbek-Hermel, on October 17, 2024. (Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source)
A man examines the damage from Israeli strikes in Duris, Baalbek-Hermel on October 17, 2024. (Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source)
A crater in Duris, Baalbek-Hermel, on October 17, 2024. (Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source)
The strike wave comes to a region that has been hosting large numbers of displaced people. Tens of thousands of displaced people are formally registered in the Bekaa and Baalbek-Hermel governorates by the Disaster Risk Management Unit. Local army personnel have even been lenient in letting displaced people stay in two army facilities in the area, despite there being no official communiqué from the Army Command to allow the practice, according to Al-Akhbar newspaper.
With strikes starting Monday morning and continuing throughout the day, deaths were recorded in at least 12 different villages in the valley, in both the Bekaa and Baalbek-Hermel Governorates. Among the deceased were 16 people in Aalak, 11 in Ram, 10 in Hfeir, and six each in Baalbek and Boudai.
All 11 victims of the massacre in Ram came from the same family, the Noun family, the National News Agency reported. Four children from the family, and their mother, have been reported killed so far. Last month Israel killed another member of the Noun family from Ram, Nazir Yousef Noun, who was mourned as a fighter by Hezbollah.
The strikes in Baalbek, near the Lebanese army’s Gouraud Barracks, also damaged the Iaat Gate of the Baalbek Temple Complex, according to natural and cultural heritage NGO Green Southerners. Baalbek’s Roman ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, added in 1984 given their “outstanding universal value” to humanity.
From the beginning of the war on October 8, 2023, until two weeks ago Israel had launched almost 900 strikes on the Bekaa valley, according to Al-Akhbar. With the strikes this week, that number now approaches, or perhaps, even exceeds 1,000. As of October 18, 452 people had been killed across the Baalbak-Hermel and Bekaa governorates since the start of the war. This week’s attacks bring the death toll across the two governorates to over 500.
On October 4, 2024, Israel targeted the Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon, in the East Bekaa, and Syria. The strike created a huge crater that completely cut off circulation, forcing people attempting to cross the border to walk. Over 520,000 people, a majority of them Syrian citizens, have crossed from Lebanon to Syria since September 23, 2024.
A young boy stands next to a crater at the Masnaa border crossing with Syria on October 17, 2024. (Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source)
People cross the Masnaa border crossing with Syria on October 17, 2024. (Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source)
Buses from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent wait to take people onwards into Syria at the Masnaa border crossing on October 17, 2024. (Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source)
A large crater left by an Israeli strike forces people to cross Masnaa border crossing on foot on October 17, 2024. (Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source)