Israel bombs central Beirut, killing six, and opens fire on southern and eastern Lebanon. The US-Israel war over Iran news
Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israel has attacked a building in Beshoura, located in the centre of Beirut, with an explosion and smoke rising in the area shortly after Israel issued a threat to evacuate the site.
The attack was part of a deadly wave of Israeli attacks across Lebanon that killed at least 20 people and wounded 24 on Wednesday, according to the country’s public health ministry, with the raids extending from the capital to southern and eastern parts of the country, a devastating front in the broader United States-Israel war against Iran that is engulfing the region.
At least six people were killed and dozens injured in air strikes in Beirut.
Zeina Khodr, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Beirut, reported that intense Israeli attacks hit several areas of Lebanon, including central Beirut, overnight.
Speaking from the front of a 15-storey building hit by one of the attacks, Khodar said its lower floors had been targeted a week earlier. However, the structure was completely demolished in the early hours, with the Israeli military claiming that Hezbollah had stored cash there.
“You can see widespread damage throughout this area,” Khodar said.
Israel’s military said it had launched a limited ground operation in southern Lebanon, threatening residents of four towns near the Zahrani River and the Tire region with evacuation and warning them to immediately move north.
Lebanon’s NNA also reported attacks on Tyre and the area around al-Burj al-Shamali before dawn.
At least four people were killed in an Israeli strike targeting four houses in the town of Sahmar in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.
The escalating attacks in Lebanon have killed at least 912 people, including 111 children, and injured more than 2,200 since Israel began its offensive on March 2, according to Lebanese health ministry data.
More than one million people have been forced from their homes. The United Nations warned on Tuesday that Israeli attacks on residential buildings and civilian infrastructure could constitute war crimes under international humanitarian law.
A spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office said that deliberately targeting civilians or civilian objects “amounts to a war crime”, adding that Israel’s blanket disengagement orders for southern Lebanon may themselves be a violation of international law.
Khodr said Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassim last night laid out conditions for ending the war, including Israel stopping attacks, allowing displaced people to return to their homes, releasing people detained by Israel for the past two years and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
In southern Lebanon, Khodr said that Hezbollah “is still present in the area, trying to stop the Israeli army from advancing”, adding that Hezbollah’s aim was not just territorial control of the area, but to prevent Israel from gaining new positions in the country.
The conflict began on February 28 when US and Israeli forces assassinated Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran, after which Hezbollah launched rockets into northern Israel on March 2.
Israel has since killed more than 2,000 people in its attacks in Iran and Lebanon.
France’s special envoy to Lebanon said on Wednesday it would be unreasonable to expect the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah while the country is being bombed by Israel, adding that only dialogue will resolve the crisis.
Jean-Yves Le Drian told France Info radio, “Israel occupied Lebanon for too long and failed to destroy Hezbollah’s military capacity. Therefore, they can no longer ask the Lebanese government to do the same thing in three days under bombardment.”
Israel’s staunch ally, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, also added to the growing international concern, warning that Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon was a “mistake” that risked worsening what he described as an already dire humanitarian situation.
