Israeli strike kills 23 more in Lebanon

BEIRUT, Sept 26 (AP/Reuters): 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."

The Lebanese Red Cross said it recovered nine bodies, while others were recovered by the Hezbollah militant group's paramedic service and the Lebanese Civil Defense.

Lebanon, with a population of around 6 million, hosts nearly 780,000 registered Syrian refugees and hundreds of thousands who are unregistered - the world's highest refugee population per capita.

Israel has carried out days of heavy strikes across Lebanon, targeting what it says are Hezbollah rocket launchers and other military infrastructure. The militants have fired hundreds of rockets into Israel and on Wednesday targeted Tel Aviv for the first time with a longer-range missile that was intercepted.

The United States is spearheading a new diplomatic effort to end hostilities in both Gaza and Lebanon, linking the two conflicts as part of a single initiative, six sources familiar with the initiative told Reuters.

Details are being hammered out at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, according to two Lebanese officials, two Western diplomats, a source familiar with the thinking of armed Lebanese group Hezbollah and a source briefed on the talks.

The White House National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Three Israeli officials told Reuters that the United States and France were working on ceasefire proposals but that no significant process had been made so far.

It would be the first time the two fronts are linked as part of a US diplomatic push, the sources said.

The deal may eventually lead to the release of hostages seized by Palestinian armed group Hamas in the attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year that sparked hostilities across the Middle East, according to a senior Lebanese official, the source familiar with Hezbollah's thinking and the source briefed on the talks.

The United States has sought to contain tensions in the Middle East since the Oct 7 attack.

The day after the Hamas attack, Iran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli military positions across Lebanon's southern border, saying the attacks were in solidarity with Gaza.

Since then, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly said his group will not stop firing at Israel until Israel halts its offensive on Gaza.

Israel has in recent days significantly stepped up its military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, killing several Hezbollah commanders in a strike on Friday and carrying out attacks on Monday that killed more than 550 people dead, including 50 children, Lebanese health authorities said.