An Israeli airstrike targeted an apartment building in central Beirut, the second such attack on the Lebanese capital’s heart since the regional war began.
BEIRUT: An Israeli strike hit an apartment building in central Beirut on Wednesday. This marks the second attack targeting the heart of the Lebanese capital since the Middle East war began.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported the enemy targeted an apartment in the densely populated Aisha Bakkar area. The neighbourhood is close to one of the city’s major shopping malls.
AFPTV’s live broadcast captured the sound of an airstrike followed by a fireball erupting in an apartment. The blast occurred within a multi-storey residential building.
There was no immediate confirmation of any casualties from the strike. An AFP correspondent saw destroyed walls on the building’s seventh and eighth floors with damaged cars nearby.
Security forces were present at the scene following the attack. Fawzi Asmar, a bakery owner on the street, described the terrifying moment.
“I ran from room to room, pulled my wife and daughter out of the rooms and hid them behind a wall, then the second strike hit,” Asmar said.
Civil defence paramedic Samer Knio said glass and debris fell on his team as they evacuated casualties. “But God protected us,” Knio added.
Earlier on Wednesday, another Israeli strike hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold. Israel had reiterated its call for residents to evacuate that area a day prior.
The health ministry said successive Israeli raids on the southern town of Qana killed five people and wounded five others. In Hennawiyeh, an initial strike wounded two people before a follow-up attack killed them and a rescuer.
Another strike on Zalaya in the southeast killed one person, the ministry added. Lebanese authorities said 759,300 people have been registered as displaced, with 122,600 staying in shelters.
Hezbollah said its fighters attacked Israeli troops near the border towns of Khiam and Odaisseh on Tuesday. The group also claimed rocket attacks on Israel, including targeting a missile defence site south of Haifa.
It later stated it was engaging an Israeli force near the border town of Aitaroun with light and medium weapons. Lebanon was drawn into the war last week after Hezbollah attacked Israel.
That attack was a response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes. Israel has launched attacks across Lebanon and sent ground troops into border areas.
Last week, the Israeli army targeted a hotel in central Beirut. Iran said that strike killed four of its diplomats.
