Israel attacks Lebanon: Deaths Mount as Beirut Buildings Bombed to Dust
Israel attacks Lebanon: Deaths Mount as Beirut Buildings Bombed to Dust
- The Israeli military has launched a wave of deadly air attacks on Beirut, destroying at least six residential towers with six killed and more than 100 wounded – with the toll expected to jump significantly.
- President Joe Biden said the US had “no knowledge of or participation” in the strikes on Lebanon’s capital, but he has directed the Pentagon to “assess and adjust as necessary US force posture” in the Middle East.
- Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian called the strikes “state-sponsored terrorism”, while Iranian Foreign Minister Sayyed Abbas Araghchi told the UN Security Council that US-supplied 5,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs were used in the attack.
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has endorsed a joint US-France plan for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon, saying “we cannot afford endless negotiations”, as with Gaza.
- At least 20 Palestinians were killed throughout Gaza on Friday, including in an Israeli strike on a tent encampment for displaced people in Deir el-Balah.
Israel targets more neighbourhoods in Beirut
Israel’s military has released a new list of sites targeted for attack and has warned nearby residents in the southern suburbs of Beirut to flee immediately.
“You are located near Hezbollah interests and for your safety and the safety of your loved ones, you are obliged to evacuate the buildings immediately and move away from them at a distance of no less than 500 metres,” the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on social media.
The designated areas include two locations Beirut’s Bourj el-Barajneh neighbourhood and one in the Hadath area.
Israeli military says it killed Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon
The Israeli military has claimed it has killed Muhammad Ali Ismail, the commander of Hezbollah’s missile unit in southern Lebanon, along with his deputy, Hussein Ahmad Ismail.
“The so-called Muhammad Ali Ismail is responsible for numerous terrorist plots from the front he directed towards Israeli territory, including the launching of numerous rockets and the launching of a surface-to-surface missile towards the centre of the country last Wednesday,” the Israeli army’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X.
The Israeli military did not specify when or where exactly the pair were allegedly killed.
Hezbollah has yet to comment.
Wave of Israeli strikes on Beirut carried out over seven hours
There have been multiple hits now over the last seven hours, starting at around 6:30, seven o’clock, local time with that first massive strike on Dahiyeh – the very densely populated area in south Beirut.
It’s a civilian area. There are schools. There are hospitals. And these bunker-busting bombs were used there.
After that strike, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said that six people had died and at least 100 had been injured. But since then, we’ve had another wave of strikes. I think another four or five across the southern suburbs of the capital.
It’s very hard to keep numbers because this is an ongoing situation. The Israeli military announced that they were hitting a central command centre in Dahiyeh. But they haven’t provided any proof of this, and we are not able to get down there to independently verify it.
What I can tell you is that I have been down to Dahiyeh in the past. I’ve been to similar strike sites and attended funerals down there, and it is a very tight, warrenlike neighbourhood, and whatever the toll of injuries and death is right now, it is going to climb significantly.
(News Source Link: Al Jazeera)