Lebanon says 55 killed in Israeli strikes
- 3 hours ago
Aya Iskandarani Lebanon said Israeli air strikes on Saturday killed more than 55 people, many of them in central Beirut, as Israel's defence minister vowed decisive action against Hizbollah, in a call with his US counterpart.
After nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire, in which Lebanon's Hizbollah said it was acting in support of Hamas, Israel escalated air strikes against Hizbollah targets in Lebanon on September 23.
A week later it sent in ground troops to southern Lebanon.
One strike on Saturday in the heart of Beirut brought down a residential building and jolted residents across the city.
The strike on the working-class Basta neighbourhood killed at least 20 people and wounded 66, Lebanon's health ministry said in a revised toll.
"We saw two dead people on the ground... The children started crying and their mother cried even more," said Samir, 60, who lives in a building facing the one destroyed.
The attack in the capital was followed by others in the city's southern suburbs after calls by the Israeli military to evacuate.
Israel has not commented on the strike in central Beirut but said it had again hit Hizbollah targets in the city's southern suburbs, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group.
A military statement said that over the past week, the air force "struck dozens of Hizbollah command centres, weapons storage facilities, and terrorist infrastructure in the Dahieh area".
The escalation comes after US envoy Amos Hochstein traveled to the region in pursuit of a deal to end months of fighting between Israel and Hizbollah that has erupted into full-on war.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population. On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardment in northern Israel and the fighting.
The 4 a.m. strikes destroyed an eight-story building in central Beirut. Hizbollah legislator Amin Shiri said no Hizbollah officials were inside. The attack stripped the facades from some nearby buildings and crumpled cars.
"The area is residential, with closely packed buildings and narrow streets, making the situation challenging,” said Walid Al-Hashash, a first responder with the Lebanese Civil Defense.
Israel’s military did not comment on the casualties.
Also Saturday, a drone strike killed two people and injured three in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre, according to the Lebanese state-run National News Agency.
Mohammed Bikai, spokesperson for the Fatah Palestinian faction in the Tyre area, said those killed were Palestinian refugees from nearby al-Rashidieh camp who were out fishing.
Despite a warning last month by Israel's army to avoid Lebanon's southern coast, "you can’t tell someone who needs to eat that you can’t fish," Bikai said.
The Health Ministry said other airstrikes killed eight people, including four children, in the eastern town of Shmustar, five others in the southern village of Roumin, and another five people in the northeastern village of Budai.
Two Western diplomatic officials on Saturday described disputed points between Israel and Lebanon in cease-fire negotiations. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the talks.
The current proposal calls for a two-month cease-fire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon and Hizbollah would end its armed presence along the southern border south of the Litani River. Thousands more Lebanese army troops would patrol the border area with UN peacekeepers, and an international committee would monitor the deal's implementation.
The officials said Israel wanted more guarantees that Hizbollah ’s weapons are removed from the border area. Israeli officials have said they would not agree to a deal that did not explicitly grant them freedom to strike in Lebanon if they believe Hizbollah is violating it.
Lebanese officials have said the inclusion of such a term would violate their country's sovereignty. And Hizbollah leader Naim Kassem said this week that the group would not agree to a deal that does not entail a "complete and comprehensive end to the aggression."
Lebanon and Israel also dispute which countries would sit on the monitoring committee. The officials said Israel refused to allow France, which has been close with Lebanon since its colonial rule there ended. Lebanon refused to have Britain, a close ally of Israel.
Agencies
