Israeli strikes hit several dense industrial and residential areas in central Beirut Wednesday afternoon unexpectedly, hours after a ceasefire was announced within the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran.
Israel had said the agreement doesn’t extend to its war with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, although mediator Pakistan said it does.
Israel’s military called it the most important coordinated strike in the present war, striking greater than 100 Hezbollah targets inside 10 minutes in Beirut, southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa valley.
Black smoke towered over several parts of the seaside capital. Explosions interrupted the honking of traffic on what had been a bustling, blue-sky afternoon. Ambulances raced toward open flames. Apartment buildings were struck. Emergency responders searched charred vehicles.
It was not immediately clear how many individuals were killed or wounded, but several strikes were in busy industrial locations, causing panic within the streets. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that the airstrikes hit not less than five different neighborhoods in Beirut’s central and coastal areas.
Lebanon’s Minister of Social Affairs, Haneed Sayed, in an interview with The Associated Press condemned Israel’s big selection of strikes, calling it a “very dangerous turning point.”
“These hits are actually at the guts of Beirut … Half of the sheltered (internally displaced individuals) are in Beirut on this area,” she said, adding that she had just driven by the areas hit.
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She said Lebanon’s government is able to enter into negotiations with Israel for an end to hostilities, a suggestion that the president previously made. Israel has not responded.
“There are calls and efforts being made as we speak,” Sayed said.
Israel’s military said it had targeted missile launchers, command centers and intelligence infrastructure and accused Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields.
“The State of Lebanon and its civilians must refuse Hezbollah’s entrenchment in civilian areas and its weapons build-up capabilities,” the military said in an announcement.
Residents and native officials denied that the buildings hit were military sites.
“Take a look at these crimes,” said Mohammed Balouza, a member of Beirut’s municipal council, on the scene of a strike within the central Corniche al Mazraa neighborhood, a mixed industrial and residential area. An apartment constructing behind a well-liked shop selling nuts and dried fruit had been hit. “This can be a residential area. There may be nothing (military) here.”
Israel had rarely struck central Beirut for the reason that outbreak of the most recent Israel-Hezbollah war on March 2 but has often struck southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Before the wave of recent strikes, a Hezbollah official told the AP that the group was giving a likelihood for mediators to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon, but “we’ve got not announced our adherence to the ceasefire for the reason that Israelis usually are not adhering to it.” He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.
The Hezbollah official said the group is not going to accept a return to the pre-March 2 establishment, when Israel carried out near-daily strikes in Lebanon despite a ceasefire being nominally in place for the reason that last full-blown Israel-Hezbollah war led to November 2024.
“We is not going to accept for the Israelis to proceed behaving as they did before this war almost about attacks,” he said. “We don’t need this phase to proceed.”
Hezbollah had fired missiles across the border days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, sparking a regional war. Israel responded with widespread bombardment of Lebanon and a ground invasion.
The Israeli military chief of staff on Wednesday said they may proceed to “utilize every operational opportunity” to strike Hezbollah. Lt Gen. Eyal Zamir said it’s to guard Israel’s northern residents, who’ve come under heavy fire.
Israeli airstrikes have killed greater than 1,530 people in Lebanon, including greater than 100 women and 130 children. The Israeli military has said it has killed lots of of Hezbollah fighters. A couple of million people have been displaced in Lebanon.
Early Wednesday, after the ceasefire in Iran was announced, many displaced people sleeping in tents on the streets of Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon began packing their belongings in preparation to return to their homes.
That was before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed the military would press on in Lebanon.
At a sprawling displacement camp on Beirut’s waterfront, families whiplashed by the conflicting statements expressed confusion and despair.
“We are able to’t take this anymore, sleeping in a tent, not showering, the uncertainty,” said Fadi Zaydan, 35. He and his parents had prepared to go back to the southern city of Nabatieh before Netanyahu’s comments stopped them of their tracks.
“But we’ll be targeted if we go home,” Zaydan said. His family decided to attend things out for now in Sidon, a bit closer to home.
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