A massive Israeli strike has flattened a residential building in centre of the Lebanese capital Beirut. Four people have been killed and more than 20 injured, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
The eight-storey building was completely destroyed without warning by five missiles in the capital’s densely-populated Basta district, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).
The Israeli attack happened at about 04:00 local time (02:00 GMT) on Saturday with explosions shaking the city.
The Israeli military made no immediate comment.
Emergency teams searched the site in Basta – where plumes of smoke rose from a huge crater. Work removing rubble from the site is still ongoing, the health ministry said.
The strike is Israel’s fourth attack this week on central Beirut. On Monday, Iran-backed Hezbollah said its spokesman Mohammed Afif had been killed in an air strike.
In recent months, Israeli strikes have killed several top Hezbollah members in Beirut, including the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The attack in the early hours of Saturday was followed by others. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued an evacuation order to residents in southern Beirut who, it claimed, were located “near Hezbollah facilities and interests”.
An hour later, fighter jets targeted a number of sites which the IDF said on X included “a warehouse of weapons”.
The IDF began a major offensive against Hezbollah in September, carrying out air strikes and also sending troops into southern Lebanon.
The hostilities escalated after the Iran-backed Hezbollah fired repeated salvoes of rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas, the Palestinian group that carried out the deadly 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel.
Israel’s stated goal in its war against Hezbollah is to allow the return of about 60,000 residents who have been displaced from communities in northern Israel because of the group’s attacks.
In Lebanon, the conflict has killed more than 3,500 people and forced more than one million from their homes, Lebanese authorities say.
Earlier this week, a US mediator visited both Israel and Lebanon in an attempt to secure a ceasefire.
Amos Hochstein indicated some progress had been made – but has not publicly commented on any details.
