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Israel launched multiple airstrikes in Beirut on Thursday, killing at least nine people at a Hizbollah-linked medical facility in the heart of the Lebanese capital and targeting a building used by the Lebanese government. media room of the militant group.
The attacks show that Israel is expanding its offensive beyond military targets to include its civilian infrastructure. Hizbollah. The movement is the dominant political force in Lebanon and has a vast network of social programs and business interests.
The attack on the Hizbollah health agency building occurred near the Lebanese parliament in a densely populated area and was the deepest attack on the capital since the conflict erupted nearly a year ago.
The Israeli military said it carried out a “precision strike” but did not reveal the target.
The group said Israeli bombs then hit a building in the southern suburbs of Beirut that was used as Hizbollah’s media relations office. After that attack, the Israeli military said it had “attacked targets belonging to Hizbollah’s intelligence and communications agency in Beirut.”
Hizbollah recently moved its media team away from the site and it was unclear if there were any casualties in that attack, a group official said.
The Dahiyeh area is controlled by Hizbollah and has been largely empty as it has been the focus of repeated Israeli attacks over the past two weeks.
Lebanese health authorities said at least seven medical staff, including two paramedics, were among the nine people killed in the attack on the medical facility. They added that 14 people were injured.
The Lebanese army, which is not involved in Hizbollah’s conflict with Israel, said two of its soldiers were killed by Israeli fire in southern Lebanon on Thursday.
Israel has stepped up its offensive against Iran-backed Hizbollah over the past two weeks, assassinating the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and launching a ground offensive into southern Lebanon.
The latest attacks come as the region braces for Israeli retaliation for a barrage of Iranian missiles aimed at the country on Tuesday, adding to fears of an all-out war in the Middle East.
Iran said the missile attack on Israel was in response to Nasrallah’s assassination last week and the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.
The US says Israel has the right to respond, although US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that any retaliation must be “proportionate” and that he opposes attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities .
On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces said eight soldiers were killed and several wounded in clashes with Hizbollah militants inside Lebanon.
The Israeli army on Thursday warned residents of 25 more villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately north of the Awali River, which runs up to 60km from the border with Israel.
The ground offensive was launched after Israel stepped up its bombing campaign in Lebanon, with many attacks targeting Dahiyeh.
It had previously targeted only one location within the city limits during the conflict, which began after Hizbollah began firing into Israel the day after an October 7 attack by Hamas.
According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli attacks on what it believes are Hizbollah targets across Lebanon have killed more than 1,000 people in the country in the past two weeks. They said 46 people were killed and 85 injured in the past 24 hours.
As the medical facility was attacked, a loud explosion was heard in Beirut, with footage from the scene showing smoke rising into the sky at night. Footage from Lebanese news agencies showed the explosion also damaged a cemetery.
“Another sleepless night in Beirut. Count the explosions that shook the city. There are no sirens. Don’t know what’s next. There’s just that uncertainty that lies ahead. Anxiety and fear are everywhere,” said Jeanine Hennis, the United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon.
The Lebanese National News Agency said 17 Israeli bombing attacks took place in residential areas in south Beirut.
In addition to its military operations, Hizbollah also has a political party and an extensive social service network that operates in parallel with state organizations. These include schools, social welfare organizations and health care facilities as was the case on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Syrian state media said air defense forces had intercepted “hostile targets. . . in the skies above the western countryside of Damascus.”
Separately, the Israeli military said on Thursday it killed the head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, Rawhi Mushtaha, in an attack three months ago.
Additional reporting by Ahmed Al Omran in Jeddah and Malaika Kanaaneh Tapper in London
Maps by Alan Smith and data visualizations by Steven Bernard
