Israel hits Hezbollah in Beirut; hospital director and co-workers allegedly murdered in the north; other Lebanese medics, UN peacekeepers and civilians also A strong raid hit the main quarter of Beirut on Saturday, according to security officials as Israel continued its campaign against Hezbollah allies with Iran. Powerful airstrike targeted central Beirut on Saturday, security sources said, shaking the Lebanese capital as Israel pressed its offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
Hezbollah’s al-Manar broadcaster said the health ministry reported at least four people killed and 33 injured in the Beirut Basta neighbourhood attack. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported on Saturday that many were killed and injured and an eight-storey building was brought down by the attack. Clips aired by Lebanon’s Al Jadeed station revealed at least one flattened structure coupled with other largely demolished premises in the area.
The blasts occurred around 4 am, that is according to the Reuters witness. Eyewitnesses and security sources said that at least four bombs were dropped by the helicopters.
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It was the fourth Israeli airstrike this week that struck a central district of Beirut; most Israeli raids have impacted the southern suburb, controlled by the Hezbollah group.
The National News Agency reported: “Beirut the capital, awoke this morning to tragedy, the Israeli enemy’s air force flattened an eight storey, residential house on Al-Mamoun Street Basta with five missiles.”
At least three large explosions were heard by the Agence France-Presse journalists on the scene.
Earlier on Friday Israel Air Force bombed southern Lebanon and the outskirts of Beirut which, as claimed by Hizbullah, killed five medics.
Israeli ground forces also engaged Hezbollah guerrillas in south Lebanon on Friday: Hezbollah reported that it targeted Israeli ground troops operating east of Khiyam at least four times during the day. Palestinian reports said that Israeli troops had moved forward in a chain of villages towards the west, according to Lebanese security sources.
Wednesday night strike at a house near the University of Dar Al-Amal located in the province of Baalbek in north-eastern Lebanon killed the director, and six employees of the hospital along with him, said the Ministry of Health of Lebanon on Friday.
Two rockets hit a Unifil peacekeeping force base in southern Lebanon and four Italian soldiers were lightly injured, a spokesperson for the UN force said on Friday.
Italian sources report that an investigation is underway. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani claimed to Italian media that the attack could have been caused by Hezbollah.
Attacks on two other villages in southern Lebanon brought five rescue force medics from a Hezbollah-linked group.
The over 3,500 people who have been killed in Israeli strikes in the past year include more than 200 health workers, the ministry added.
Nevertheless, in Lebanon, Israel has continued with its aggressive attack on Hezbollah, much as a bit by the US envoy has paved the way for a ceasefire. US mediator Amos Hochstein said in Beirut this week that a cease-fire was ‘within our reach’. According to Axios an American news website, he went further to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Defence Minister Irakly Katz but proceeded back to Washington.
It quoted the White House as saying on Friday that US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron explored measures to commute a ceasefire accord in Lebanon to make the residents of both sides of the Blue Line regain their homes.
Over one year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah alongside Lebanon’s southern border grew when Israel intensively attacked in late September and invaded Lebanon on October 1.
Abeer Darwich’s resident in a building that was struck on Friday in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a heavily populated Hezbollah base, had to abandon her apartment just after receiving a warning from Israel’s Defence Force to evacuate. She was left standing and unmoving as the Israelis attacked and blew up a high rise to rubble.
Still, did you know that most of the apartment owners ended up taking credit to buy those houses? It’s all gone now, the memories we had, the money we had saved and what we had hoped for safety … which Israel decided it wanted to take form us.
Some of the buildings in the area received evacuation advice on Friday.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Friday that the main hospitals had two days of fuel left before they were forced to limit activities, the UN has stated that aid deliveries to the territory were severely hindered.
Gaza’s field hospital director Marwan al-Hams said that all hospitals in the Palestinian territory “will stop working or reduce their services within 48 hours because of the occupation [Israel]’s hindrance of fuel importation.”
Most of the 21 hospitals in the strip are fully or partly shut down, with only two hospitals partially functional in the area so far of the northern Gaza Strip, namely Kamal Adwan Hospital having the director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressing deep concern over the safety of 80 patients with eight of them in the intensive care unit. The warning on Friday comes a day after the international criminal court brought charges against Netanyahu and the former defence minister Yoav Gallant more than a year into the Gaza war. was being crippled.
The director of Gaza’s field hospitals, Marwan al-Hams, said all hospitals in the Palestinian territory “will stop working or reduce their services within 48 hours due to the occupation’s [Israel’s] obstruction of fuel entry”.
The World Health Organization chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he was “deeply concerned about the safety and wellbeing of 80 patients, including eight in the intensive care unit” at Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of just two partly operating in northern Gaza.
The warning on Friday came a day after the international criminal court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and the former defence minister Yoav Gallant more than a year into the Gaza war. The UN and others have often condemned the human rights situation in Gaza, especially in the north, where Israel said on Friday that it had eliminated two key organizers of the 7 October 2023 Hamas raid that precipitated the war.
Doctors and ambulance crews in Gaza have reported that at least dozens of people were killed or remained missing after Israeli forces stormed Beit Lahia and Jabalia city late Thursday to Friday dawn.
Together with Reuters and Agence France-Presse
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FAQs
1. Why did Israel bomb Beirut?
Israel’s airstrikes on Beirut are reportedly in response to escalating tensions or attacks from groups based in Lebanon, particularly Hezbollah. The situation reflects rising hostilities in the region.
2. What areas were affected in Beirut?
Central Beirut has reportedly been targeted, but details on specific locations, casualties, and infrastructure damage are still emerging.
3. How has the international community reacted?
Global reactions vary, with some countries calling for restraint and a ceasefire, while others support Israel’s actions citing self-defence. The UN and humanitarian organizations are expressing concerns over civilian casualties.