Israel launches deadliest attack on Beirut in over a year of war

By Linda Bordoni

Separate air raids on Thursday night hit two residential buildings in Beirut neighbourhoods that have filled with displaced people fleeing Israeli bombardments elsewhere in the country.

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television and Israeli media said the strikes aimed to kill Wafiq Safa, a top Hezbollah security official. Al-Manar said Safa was not in either building at the time and the Israeli military had no comment on the reports.

The bombardments came as Israel escalated its campaign against Hezbollah with waves of heavy airstrikes across Lebanon and a ground invasion at the border, after a year of exchanges of fire between the enemies.

The strikes came on the same day as a series of assaults by Israeli forces on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, drawing widespread condemnation for their blatant disregard of International Humanitarian Law.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on October 8th, 2023, in support of Hamas, drawing Israeli airstrikes in retaliation.

More than 2,100 Lebanese - including Hezbollah fighters, civilians and medical personnel - have been killed in the past year by Israeli strikes, more than two-thirds of them in the past few weeks.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu this week warned Lebanese they would suffer the same destruction that Israel’s campaign against Hamas has inflicted in Gaza unless they take action against Hezbollah.

And as Israeli Defense Forces continue to bomb the Gaza Strip, the enclave’s health ministry on Friday updated its death toll since October 7th 2023, to 42,126 Palestinians killed and more than 98,000 injured, over half of them women and children.

(Source: Associated Press)