Israeli PM Netanyahu warns Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah or face ground invasion as strikes hit Beirut, killing civilians and displacing thousands.
BEIRUT: Israel renewed its airstrikes on Beirut on Thursday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a stark warning to Lebanese authorities.
Netanyahu stated that if the Lebanese government did not disarm the Iran-backed Hezbollah, Israel would do the job “on the ground”. “You are playing with fire,” Netanyahu said during a press conference.
The Israeli military announced “a wave of strikes targeting Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure across Beirut”. AFPTV footage showed dark smoke rising over two districts in the heart of the city.
One strike hit a building in the Bashoura area, adjacent to Beirut’s commercial centre. An Israeli army spokesperson accused Hezbollah of hiding “millions of dollars” under the building.
Another attack targeted a Beirut branch of the Hezbollah-linked financial firm Al Qard Al Hassan. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam addressed the nation as the bombings continued.
“It is a war we did not want; on the contrary, we are working day and night to bring it to an end,” Salam said. Later, Israel’s military said it struck several Hezbollah command posts in new waves of attacks.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered troops to “prepare for expanding” attacks in Lebanon. Israel issued an evacuation warning to all residents south of the Zahrani River.
Strikes continued throughout the day, including on the town of Arkey in southern Lebanon. The health ministry said nine people were killed and seven wounded there.
Among the dead were five children, four of them siblings, according to the Arkey municipality. A separate strike on the Christian village of Ein Ebel killed three men.
Hezbollah said it carried out attacks against Israel, including one targeting an air defence system near Caesarea. Lebanon was drawn into the wider Middle East war last week.
The violence has killed more than 687 people in Lebanon, according to national authorities. More than 800,000 people have registered as displaced.
World Food Programme Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau said the displacement in Lebanon was “unique”. “Some 800,000 people in a week. That’s massive,” Skau told AFP.
An overnight strike on Beirut’s Ramlet al-Bayda beachfront killed 12 people and wounded 28. An AFP correspondent saw blood stains on the pavement and damaged vehicles.
“We saw dead people on the ground,” said Aseel Habbaj, a displaced woman sheltering nearby. Her neighbour Dalal al-Sayed said her family could not afford to rent an apartment.
“We won’t leave, we will stay here even if we die,” al-Sayed added. A strike on a campus of the Lebanese University killed the head of the faculty of sciences and another professor.