Another difficult night in Beirut. Multiple strikes hit the Lebanese capital overnight from Friday to Saturday and this Saturday morning, as the open war between Israel and Hezbollah enters its third month.
“The capital Beirut woke up to a terrifying massacre, with Israeli aircraft completely destroying an eight-story residential building using five missiles on Maamoun Street in the Basta neighborhood,” the National Agency said. information Ani. Ani added that rescuers were working to clear the rubble, reporting a “large number of dead and injured”.
AFP journalists across Beirut and surrounding areas reported at least three loud explosions, followed by a pungent smell, after a day of intense bombing in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a stronghold of pro-Hezbollah. Iranian, in open war against Israel.
The strike damaged several nearby buildings and ambulances flocked to the site of the targeted building, which turned into a pile of rubble, in this popular and densely populated district of Basta, according to AFPTV images.
Ani had already reported a series of Israeli strikes against the southern suburbs on Friday morning but also at the beginning and end of the afternoon as well as during the night from Friday to Saturday. Several buildings were targeted, including two located on the outskirts of Beirut’s southern suburbs, in the still densely populated Chiyah sector of Ghobeiry, which is home to several shopping centers, again after calls to evacuate. According to the same source, major fires broke out and buildings collapsed.
Hospital director killed
In southern Lebanon, where Israel, in open war against Lebanese Hezbollah, has been carrying out land incursions since September 30, five rescue workers affiliated with the pro-Iranian movement were killed, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. And in eastern Lebanon, where Hezbollah is also present, an Israeli strike killed the director of the Dar al-Amal hospital near Baalbeck, and six members of the nursing staff, in his residence located next to the health establishment, according to the ministry.
These strikes come as the WHO declared on Friday that nearly 230 health workers had been killed in Lebanon since October 7, 2023, deploring “an extremely worrying figure”.
For its part, the Israeli army declared having “carried out a series of strikes on Hezbollah terrorist command centers” in the southern suburbs of Beirut. She added that she had hit “Hezbollah terrorist targets in the Tire region” (south), including “command centers” and “weapons storage facilities”.
For the first time on Friday, Israeli troops entered the village of Deir Mimas, about 2.5 km from the border. “Enemy reconnaissance drones” flew over largely deserted Deir Mimas, warning residents “not to leave their homes,” Ani reported. The Israeli army tried to advance in several places along the border, notably in the town of Khiam, where Hezbollah claimed numerous attacks on Friday.
The pace of Israeli strikes accelerated after the departure of American envoy Amos Hochstein, who was visiting Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday to try to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.