Listen to this article
Average 3 minutes
The audio version of this article was created by AI-based technology. It can be mispronounced. We are working with our partners to continuously review and improve the results.
Israeli airstrikes in Beirut killed at least six people on Wednesday, Lebanon’s health ministry said, shaking the heart of the Lebanese capital as Israel intensified its offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
Israeli forces also attacked areas south of Beirut controlled by Hezbollah, where Reuters images showed explosions in the night sky. Although most of the Israeli strikes in the Beirut area have been in the southern areas, Israel has also started attacking the central areas of the capital since Lebanon was dragged into the war in the Middle East on March 2.
An airstrike at around 1:30 am local time destroyed several apartments in an apartment complex in the Beirut district of Zuqaq al-Blat, while a strike in the nearby district of Basta breached at least two floors of a building.
Later, a heavy strike destroyed a building in the neighborhood of Bachoura – a suburb of Beirut that was also targeted by Israel last week.
Israel’s warning
Before Bachoura’s strike, the Israeli army issued a warning on social media highlighting the building and saying it intended to act against what it said was a Hezbollah base in the area. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the Bachoura strike.
No warning was issued before the strikes in Zuqaq al-Blat and Basta, where the Ministry of Health in Lebanon said six people died and 24 were injured.
The Israeli military carried out airstrikes in the neighborhoods of Bachoura and Zuqaq al-Blat last week – both near the Lebanese government headquarters in the central district of Beirut.
More than 900 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli airstrikes since Hezbollah entered the regional war in support of Tehran on March 2, and more than a million people have been forced to flee their homes, Lebanese authorities said.
Canada has joined calls for Israel to halt an expanded offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, a campaign that has displaced more than a million people.
There were no reported casualties in Israel as a result of Hezbollah’s rocket and aircraft attacks, while the Israeli military said two of its soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon during the attack.
Israel has carried out heavy airstrikes in eastern and southern Lebanon – parts of the country where Hezbollah rules and which have come under Israeli bombardment since March 2.
Four people were killed in an airstrike in the city of Baalbeck in eastern Lebanon. In the south, 10 people were killed in airstrikes in three different areas, state media reported, citing the Ministry of Health.
