Israeli strikes on a central Beirut medical center have killed at least six people after Israel’s military suffered its deadliest day on the Lebanese front in a year of clashes with Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Residents in Beirut heard a missile flying above the city before hearing the sound of the explosion. Videos showed the floor of an apartment building burning. Residents living in nearby areas began to flee, driving away quickly in scooters and cars.
The Israeli strike hit a medical center belonging to the Hezbollah-linked Islamic Health Organisation in the early hours of Thursday. The attack was the second airstrike on central Beirut this week, with most strikes having previously been confined to suburbs in the city’s south.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was targeting Beirut and issued evacuation warnings for various locations throughout the night. Three missiles also hit the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed last week, and loud explosions were heard, Lebanese security officials said.
At least six people were killed and seven wounded, Lebanese health officials said, adding that a further 46 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on the city in the previous 24 hours.
A day after Iran fired more than 180 missiles into Israel, the wider region awaited Israel response to the attack, with US president Joe Biden saying he would not support an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites, as he attempted to contain a rapidly escalating regional conflict.
On Wednesday, the IDF announced that eight soldiers were killed in ground combat in southern Lebanon. The largest group of soldiers, from the commando brigade and including an officer, was involved in a clash with Hezbollah in a village north of the Israeli border community of Misgav Am, while two other soldiers from the Golani brigade were killed in a separate incident.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a condolence video, said: “We are at the height of a difficult war against Iran’s axis of evil, which wants to destroy us … This will not happen because we will stand together and with God’s help, we will win together.”
A separate strike on the Syrian capital Damascus reportedly killed the son-in-law of Hassan Nasrallah – the Hezbollah leader who died last week in a massive Israeli strike in Beirut. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Hassan Jaafar Qasir was among three people killed by the attack, which flattened a building in the Mazzeh district, an area favoured by Hezbollah militants and officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Israeli airstrikes have repeatedly killed paramedics across Lebanon over the past two weeks, including airstrikes that killed 14 emergency health workers over the last weekend. On Monday, six more paramedics were killed in the west Bekaa, all of them belonging to the Islamic Health Organisation.
Most of the paramedics killed by Israeli bombing since the beginning of the war were affiliated with Islamic health services, whether Hezbollah or other parties.
International human rights groups have stressed that the killing of any healthcare workers is unlawful, regardless of political affiliation, as long as they are not taking part in combat or facilitating it.
The conflict in the Middle East continues to destroy countless lives. The scenes since 7 October from Gaza and Israel have haunted millions around the world and the crisis is being felt with an increasing intensity in Lebanon and the West Bank.
As the war reaches a new stage, understanding what is happening – and what comes next – is more important than ever.
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