Israeli airstrikes on a residential area right next to the famous ancient Roman ruins of Baalbek destroyed a historic Ottoman-era building, leaving extensive damage.

Footage showed the streets near the site of the historic Manshiya building littered with debris as several shops and a historic hotel were also damaged in the strikes last night.

This is not the first time the ancient Roman ruins of Baalbek, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, has come close to being damaged by Israeli airstrikes - but it's the closest an Israeli strike has come to hitting the site since Israeli aggressions on Lebanon escalated in late September.

Israeli strikes on Wednesday night killed 40 people and wounded 53 around the eastern city of Baalbek in the wider Bekaa Valley region, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged cross-border fire for over a year in parallel with Israel's brutal war on Gaza - but fighting escalated in late September, with Israeli troops intensifying bombing of Lebanon's south, east, and the southern suburbs of capital Beirut, as well as making ground incursions into border villages.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon over the last year, the vast majority in the past six weeks.

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