BEIRUT -- At least 26 people were killed and 19 others wounded on Saturday afternoon in a series of airstrikes launched by Israeli warplanes on towns and villages in eastern and southern Lebanon, according to official and military sources in Lebanon.

The Lebanese military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that Israeli warplanes launched 19 airstrikes on towns and villages in southern Lebanon and 12 raids on villages and towns in eastern Lebanon.

The Israeli raids in southern Lebanon killed at least six paramedics and wounded five civilians, while the death toll in eastern Lebanon reached 20 and injuries to 14, according to the Public Health Emergency Operations Center, affiliated with the Ministry of Public Health.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced in a statement on Saturday that it had targeted, for the first time, the Malam military factory south of Tel Aviv with a salvo of missiles.

It said that the factory produced air and missile defense systems.

Since Sept. 23, the Israeli army has intensified its airstrikes on Lebanon in an escalation of conflict with Hezbollah.

According to Lebanon's health ministry, the death toll from Israeli airstrikes since the beginning of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Oct. 8, 2023, has reached 3,136, and injuries went up to 13,979.