image source, Reuters
Last updated 1 hour ago
Israel launched new strikes on southern Beirut after the Israeli army issued new evacuation orders for Beirut’s southern suburbs, as it says Hezbollah’s “resources and interests” are located there.
Initial reports indicate that these strikes were aimed at a gas station.
“This was a special explosion,” our correspondent Anna Foster reports from Beirut.
The footage showed an initial explosion before a large secondary explosion and black smoke billowed into the air.
Some early findings suggest it may have hit a gas station, according to a map provided by the Israeli military in the latest evacuation order and photos of the blast site.
Our contact reports that for some reason, whether it was near a gas station or on purpose, it seems to have destroyed a much larger area than usual.
Nafisa Kohnavard, a Middle East correspondent for the BBC World Service, in Beirut, said she heard at least six powerful explosions in Beirut.
“Clouds of smoke rise over the southern suburbs, and drones fly in the sky,” Kohnvard says.
Lebanese media said two targeted sites were hit in the Choueifat area, near the airport, according to local media reports, while three other strikes hit other sites in the suburbs.
Our correspondent says that the case became normal for Beirut around midnight. First, a drone flies overhead, then a warning from the IDF and then a round of explosions rocking the entire town.
Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army spokesman for Arab media, commented on his X account, saying: “The Israeli army is targeting Hezbollah terrorist targets in Beirut.”
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Israeli forces say buildings in Burj el-Barajneh will be targeted “soon” and are asking people living within 500 meters of them to take urgent action.
This area, near the airport, came under Israeli missile strikes today. The IDF issued evacuation orders before several previous strikes.
Hezbollah has a strong presence in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Most of the strikes in the last few days have targeted that area.
On the other hand, Hezbollah continued its attacks on northern Israel, saying it fired missiles at an air base near the city of Haifa.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes launched an attack on Nabi Younis area in the town of Jiyeh, Mount Lebanon, where the attack targeted a residential house and resulted in casualties.
The Israeli army announces that “more than 400 Hezbollah fighters were killed during the ground attack.”
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hajari said 440 Hezbollah fighters have been killed since Israel’s ground attack on southern Lebanon began last Monday night.
He says this includes 30 party leaders.
For its part, Hezbollah did not mention the number of members killed.
A few hours earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech in which he spoke about the Iranian missile attack on his country earlier this week.
He called it “one of the largest ballistic missile attacks in history.”
He continued: “No country in the world will accept such an attack on its cities and citizens, and neither will Israel.”
“Israel has the duty and the right to defend itself and respond to these attacks – and we will.”
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2024-10-05 21:56:40
