Death toll from Israeli strikes on Lebanon rises to 3,544

The death toll from Israeli attacks on Lebanon in the latest round of Israel-Hezbollah conflict that broke out on Oct 8, 2023 climbed to 3,544, with injuries rising to 15,036, said the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health on Tuesday.

The Israeli army and the Hezbollah on Tuesday continued their fighting in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday that its forces had started military operations in new aeras in southern Lebanon to search for and destroy Hezbollah's military facilities.

The Israeli army attacked several Hezbollah strongholds, including rocket launch sites and command centers, said IDF.

It said its forces found an observation post and a weapons depot of Hezbollah hidden in a school when conducting military operation in a village in southern Lebanon that day.

The IDF said its forces also found and destroyed several underground facilities of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

In addition, the Israeli Air Force killed the commander of Hezbollah's medium-range rocket unit Ali Tawfiq Dweiq in an airstrike on Monday in southern Lebanon, according to a statement released on Tuesday.

Dweiq had commanded Hezbollah's medium-range rocket array since September 2024, replacing the previous commander who was killed by Israel.

The Israeli military said Dweiq was responsible for launching more than 300 projectiles toward Israel, including strikes on Haifa and central Israel.

Over the past few months, Israel has struck "dozens" of infrastructure sites used by Hezbollah's medium-range rocket array and weapons storage facilities, according to the statement.

The assassination of Dweiq is the latest in a series of targeted killings by Israel, including the September airstrike in Beirut that killed Hezbollah late leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah has not yet responded to Dweiq's death.

Hezbollah said on Tuesday that it launched a drone attack on northern Israel and fired rockets at multiple Israeli targets, including a military base on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

Air defense sirens were activated in various regions in central Israel following the attack.

Hezbollah launched about 70 rockets at Israel on Tuesday, injuring at least five individuals, said the Israeli army, adding that one of its soldiers was killed by Hezbollah's drone attack while performing a material transportation mission in southern Lebanon.

Three others were also severely injured in the rocket attack, the Israeli army said.

Four Ghanaian peacekeepers on duty sustained injuries on Tuesday as a rocket hit their base in the east of the southern Lebanese village of Ramyah, according to a statement by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Also on Tuesday, the Italian Defense Ministry said that multiple rockets hit the headquarters of Italian peacekeepers in UNIFIL, and no casualties were reported so far.

The IDF said on Tuesday that according to its investigation, the rockets in the two attacks were fired by Hezbollah, but Hezbollah has not yet responded to it.

According to a report by the Lebanese National News Agency, a UNIFIL convoy came under fire while conducting a patrol mission on Tuesday, resulting no casualties. There was no immediate claim of sponsibility for the shots.

The UNIFILE sites and installations have been constantly attacked, leading to injuries amid the ongoing conflict between the Israeli army and Hezbollah.

The United Nations Office in Geneva on Tuesday held a regular press briefing, in which various of UN organizations have expressed their concerns over the severe situations in Lebanon.

UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said that multiple Lebanese villages have been completely destroyed by Israeli military operations.

Data from the United Nations International Organization for Migrants showed that nearly 900,000 people have been internally displaced in Lebanon, of which nearly 60 percent are from southern Lebanon.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) spokesman James Elder said more than 200 children in Lebanon have been killed in less than two months, an average of three a day, with hundreds of thousands of children being left homeless.

Death toll from Israeli strikes on Lebanon rises to 3,544

China's historic scenic town of Wuzhen in eastern province of Zhejiang has taken intelligent security measures at this year's World Internet Conference (WIC) Wuzhen Summit by deploying an AI-powered patrol team consisting of robot dogs, unmanned surface vessels and unmanned vehicles, contributing to a string of patrol and security tasks.

Themed "Embracing a People-Centered and AI-for-Good Digital Future – Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace", the summit kicked off on Tuesday in the well-known water-town.

The four-day event focuses heavily on the technological and industrial advances in the AI sector.

The smart robot dog, empowered by cutting-edge black technologies, can adapt to a variety of terrains, with its traveling speed reaching three to six meters per second.

By resorting to the camera installed on the head, the robot dog is capable of collecting video data from the scene in real time, which then can be transmitted to the command center, so that timely warnings can be issued in case of abnormal situations.

The robot dog can be applied to different scenarios by carrying different modules such as the loudspeaker, one-button alarm device, medical kit, and dexterous hands, playing a role in tasks like publicity and emergency rescue.

"The robot dog can patrol 24 hours a day. And it can climb stairs and step over obstacles. The unmanned patrol vehicle is a small all-terrain equipment with functions such as autonomous path planning and accompanying support. Its load can reach 280 kg, so it can help us transport heavy police equipment in daily service, making it easier for us to conduct police work," said Jia Yizheng, head of Science and Technology Management Section under the Science and Technology Information and Communication Division of Jiaxing Municipal Public Security Bureau.

Due to the densely distributed riverways in the water-town, unmanned surface vehicles were also put into use to strengthen patrols.

The vessels can realize automatic cruise by depending on the 5G network that helps send back the inspecting screen and water quality test data.

AI-powered robot patrol team put into use at 2024 WIC Wuzhen Summit