Israel pounds Lebanon, targets residential building in central Beirut
The strike in central Beirut hit a multistorey building in Aisha Bakkar and appears to be another attempted assassination, with no prior warning from Israel.
Israel has continued its relentless bombardment of Lebanon, striking a residential building in central Beirut and locations in the east and south of the embattled country, killing at least 19 people.
Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that strikes early on Wednesday killed seven people and wounded five in Tamnin al-Tahta, in the Baalbek district, following an earlier report that 10 had died.
NNA also reported three people were killed after a car was targeted by an Israeli drone in Saf al-Hawa, Bint Jbeil, southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health also announced that seven people have been killed and 11 wounded in Israeli attacks on al-Shahabiya, southern Lebanon, overnight.
One person was killed in an Israeli drone attack in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, according to the NNA and one person was killed in Zlaya, Bekaa, the ministry said.
Beirut: ‘Nowhere safe, there’s no front line’
The number of casualties from the central Beirut attack on a multistorey building in the Aisha Bakkar area has not yet been confirmed but the attack appears to be another attempted assassination, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reported from the site.
“We understand many people who live in this building are now in hospital. We are getting reports there have been deaths and injuries in this strike,” she said on Wednesday.
Khodr explained that the building is not a Hezbollah stronghold or in an area where the group has influence, but is located in a densely populated residential area.
“People here are in a state of shock,” she said, “the feeling is that there’s nowhere safe, there’s no front line.”
“The building is still on fire. There are at least two apartments on fire, one on top of the other, and the damage is really extensive.”
Israel carried out this strike without warning, she said.
“This is a part of Beirut where people thought that they were going to be safe. Displaced families who fled Dahiyeh [in the southern suburbs after Israeli threats] have been sheltering here, some sleeping in the streets,” said Pett.
The Lebanese government says about 780,000 people have been displaced in the country, a punishing front in the wider regional war which started with the United States and Israel attacking Iran.
Hezbollah said on Wednesday it launched another rocket attack on Israeli military positions south of Khiam in southern Lebanon. The group says it has repeatedly targeted Israeli military positions in the area in recent days.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded heavy fire during the ongoing conflict, but the suffering has been hugely disproportionate. At least 570 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel renewed widespread attacks on the country last Monday. Two Israeli soldiers have so far been killed in Lebanon, with several people injured in Israel from Hezbollah rockets.
The ministry released updated figures on Wednesday confirming 570 killed 1, 444 injured in the war so far by Israel. It said that 84 people were killed and 131 injured on Tuesday alone. Among the overall deaths 86 were children, 45 women and 21 paramedics.
The building hit in Tamnin al-Tahta was inhabited by a Syrian family, the NNA reported.
No letup in bombings in across Lebanon
According to NNA, other deadly attacks in the country overnight included some in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold.
Additionally, two Israeli air strikes hit the village of Hanaway, in the Tyre district, killing three civilians, including a paramedic, according to the Ministry of Public Health.
An Israeli attack killed one person and wounded eight others in the al-Housh area of Tyre, the ministry said.
Two people were also killed in an Israeli attack on the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, the NNA reported.
Several people were wounded in an Israeli drone attack on a cafe in al-Housh and on a house in the town of al-Shahabiya, also in Tyre.
The ministry said four other people were wounded in an attack on the town of Tibnin, in the Bint Jbeil district.