Israeli strikes on central Beirut on Thursday night killed 22 people and wounded 117, Lebanon’s health ministry said, as a Lebanese security source said at least one senior Hezbollah figure was targeted in the attacks.
The strikes apparently targeted two residential buildings in separate neighbourhoods of western Beirut, according to an Associated Press photographer at the scene, bringing down one multi-storey building and wiping out the lower floors of another.
A large fire blazed in the background as rescuers used torches to search the rubble for survivors, according to video broadcast by Hezbollah’s al-Manar television.
The neighbourhood was not previously hit by Israel and is well removed from Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Iran-backed Hezbollah’s headquarters have been repeatedly bombed by Israel.
Senior Hezbollah figure Wafiq Safa survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Beirut, three security sources later told Reuters.
There was no immediate comment on the incident by Israel, but its army issued a new evacuation warning on Thursday night for Beirut’s southern suburbs including specific buildings.
Earlier in the day, Israel warned Lebanese civilians not to return to homes in the south to avoid harm from fighting.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said two of its peacekeepers were injured when an Israeli tank fired at a watchtower at the force’s main headquarters in Ras al-Naqoura, hitting the tower and causing the peacekeepers to fall. There were no casualties in two other incidents, a UN source said.
