BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Israel renewed its air attacks Friday on the Lebanese-Syrian border, killing at least 30 Syrian workers at a fruit packaging factory.
Security sources said the airstrike on al-Qaa village on the Lebanese side of the border with Syria destroyed the factory, burying more than 30 Syrian Kurdish workers under the rubble.
Ten other Syrians were also injured in the raid and rushed to a nearby hospital.
It was the first time that Syrian casualties occurred in the Israeli onslaught on Lebanon.
Earlier Friday, Israel extended its attacks north of Beirut for the first time, as U.N. Security Council members strived to reach a resolution to end the conflict.
Israeli air strikes targeted bridges in the Christian heartland north of Beirut Friday, cutting off the capital from the northern part of the country in a further escalation of military operations less than 24 hours after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed to keep up rocket attacks as long as Israel continued its offensive.
"If you attack our cities, villages and civilians, we will retaliate likewise, and let it be very clear that if you hit our capital Beirut, we will hit Tel Aviv," Nasrallah said in a televised address broadcast by Hezbollah's al-Manar television Thursday night.
Nasrallah underscored the "futility" of the military operations in breaking Hezbollah's infrastructure and rocket power, saying that after 24 days of relentless Israeli attacks from the air, land and sea, the Israeli army has not been able to advance significantly in south Lebanon or impose its control on any part of the border region despite using its elite troops.
Keeping a window open for political settlement, Nasrallah said, "The only true option is to stop the aggression and listen to political dealings."
