Smoke once again rose over Beirut’s southern rim after Israel’s military said it carried out an airstrike in the area, while a Lebanese military source reported an apartment was struck south of the capital — the second such raid since a ceasefire was announced in April.
The latest strike comes as Lebanon and Israel ready for talks between military delegations at the Pentagon tomorrow, followed by US-brokered discussions early next week. The meetings will mark the fourth round since the most recent Israel-Hezbollah war began on 2 March.
After earlier heavy bombardments that Lebanese authorities said killed at least 14 people, including three children, Israel’s military said it “precisely struck in Beirut” but did not name a target.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Lebanese military source said “an Israeli strike targeted an apartment in the Choueifat area”.
AFP TV images showed smoke billowing from the area on the edge of Beirut’s southern suburbs, long regarded as a Hezbollah stronghold.
The raid was the second Israeli strike on south Beirut since a ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah was supposed to take effect on 17 April — a truce that has never been observed.
Rescue workers and residents inspect the damage to a building following an Israeli air strike in the Choueifat area, south of Beirut
Each side has accused the other of violating the agreement, and both have portrayed their own attacks as responses to alleged breaches by the opposing camp.
Hezbollah said it carried out several attacks using rockets and drones against Israeli troops in south Lebanon.
‘History and civilisation’
Yesterday, Israel’s military declared all areas south of Lebanon’s Zahrani River — roughly 40kms from the border and encompassing major cities including Tyre and Nabatieh — as “combat zones”, ordering residents to evacuate ahead of strikes it said would target Hezbollah.
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Earlier this week, Israel said it would intensify its campaign in Lebanon and announced it was expanding ground operations there.
At dawn, a wave of Israeli airstrikes hit the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon.
Lebanon’s civil defence agency said eight strikes hit Tyre since yesterday evening, alongside other attacks on the city’s outskirts, after Israel issued evacuation warnings.
According to the state-run National News Agency (NNA), several buildings were struck, along with a café and a motorcycle.
AFP video earlier captured a fireball and then a thick plume of smoke as a strike hit a building in Tyre’s archaeological district.
Ghazouane Halawani, who lives near one of the buildings hit, said he believed Israel was targeting the ancient city’s “history and its civilisation”.
“We’re staying here. This is our country, our land, our life,” he said.
Lebanon’s health ministry said a strike in Tyre killed two Syrians, including a child.
Israeli soldier killed
The ministry said another strike hit a building in Sidon, killing five people — including two women — and wounding 21, among them five children.
An AFP correspondent reported that the attack destroyed the first two floors of a residential building.
Smoke rises after Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on the rural outskirts of Nabatieh
The health ministry said another strike hit a vehicle in Adloun, in the Sidon district, killing six people “including two children, their mother and their father”.
The Lebanese military said an Israeli strike killed a soldier in the Nabatieh region “while he was driving on the road”.
The NNA also reported Israeli strikes in other parts of the country’s south.
Israel’s military said a soldier was killed yesterday by a Hezbollah drone near the border, bringing the number of Israelis killed since fighting began in March to 24 — 23 soldiers and one civilian contractor.
Lebanon was drawn into the broader Middle East war when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli attacks, prompting Israeli strikes and a ground invasion.
People search the rubble of their destroyed home following an Israeli air strike on Sidon
With expectations recently rising over a possible understanding between Tehran and Washington to end the wider conflict, Iran has said any agreement must apply to Lebanon.
The United States and Iran have accused each other of breaching their ongoing truce after an exchange of fire.
