Iraq’s top Shiite cleric calls for an end to Israeli attacks on Lebanon

BAGHDAD: Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the top authority in Shiite Islam in Iraq, urged “every effort possible” on Monday to stop Israeli “aggression” against Lebanon and particularly the hands of the Shiite Hezbollah movement.

Sistani condemned the “barbaric aggression” but added that steps must be taken to protect the Lebanese citizens.

Lebanon reported, meanwhile, that Israeli strikes in south killed 50 people and wounded over 300 and marked the heaviest single-day toll in nearly a year of cross-border clashes. The dead and wounded included children, women, and emergency workers, the health ministry statement added, though it termed the figures provisional.

Israeli air strikes pound southern and eastern Lebanon, as the Israeli military asks residents to stay away from Hezbollah targets.