Lethal attacks on Beirut –

Building destroyed in Israeli attack in Beirut

A Palestinian woman mourns her relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Rufaida school in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

BEIRUT (AP).— Israel launched airstrikes yesterday in different parts of central Beirut, which caused the death of at least 22 people, reported the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

The air offensive on the Lebanese capital — the deadliest in more than a year of conflict against the Lebanese militia Hezbollah — apparently targeted two residential buildings in different neighborhoods, according to an Associated Press photographer who was at the scene.

The attacks toppled one eight-story building and destroyed the lower floors of the other.

The Israeli military said it was investigating the attacks.

After the bombings, Hezbollah’s Al Manar television station reported that the attempt to assassinate Wafiq Safa, a senior security official in the Lebanese political-paramilitary group, had failed.

According to him, Safa was not in either of the two buildings bombed by Israel.

Yesterday’s attacks came after a year of clashes between Hezbollah and Israel that have escalated into a broader conflict in recent weeks, with Israel carrying out a wave of intense attacks across Lebanon, including a ground invasion.

Hezbollah intensified its rocket attacks toward areas of Israel further from the border, which left few casualties but disrupted daily activities.

The attack took place on the same day that Israeli soldiers opened fire on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, wounding two troops. The incident sparked widespread criticism, and prompted Italy’s prime minister to summon Israel’s ambassador in protest.

Witnesses reported the presence of a large number of ambulances and people in the rubble of the two Beirut buildings that were bombed by Israel, which were located in the Ras al-Nabaa neighborhood and in the Burj Abi Haidar area.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that 22 people were killed and 117 others were injured, but did not elaborate on their identities.

Other recent Israeli attacks on neighborhoods on the outskirts of Beirut, especially in the densely populated southern suburbs, claimed the lives of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other senior members of the organization.

Hezbollah began firing rockets towards Israel on October 8, 2023 as a show of support for Hamas and the Palestinians, to which Israel responded with bombings.

Hezbollah continued its rocket fire into Israel yesterday, triggering warning sirens in parts of the country’s north. Several drones heading towards Israel were intercepted, the Israeli military said.

Iran — which provides support to Hamas, Hezbollah and other armed groups across the region — launched about 180 ballistic missiles at Israel last week in response to the assassination of senior Hamas and Hezbollah officials.

Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, said the day before yesterday that his response to the Iranian attack will be “lethal” and “surprising”, but did not reveal more details, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a telephone conversation with US President Joe Biden.