The Israeli army raided an area south of Beirut on Thursday afternoon, its military said, amid heightened violence in southern Lebanon.
The purpose of the airstrikes in the suburb of Choueifat was not yet clear. Videos from the area, which is close to Beirut’s international airport, showed white smoke billowing from the residential area.
Tensions have been growing in the south, where Israeli forces have in recent days crossed the Litani River, using it as a de facto border. Large areas are under the control of the Israeli army despite a cease-fire imposed by Washington that has been in place since April 17.
Thursday was the first attack near the Lebanese capital since May 6, when an Israeli strike killed an army officer with the Hezbollah elite Radwan Forces in one of its suburbs.
In a flash, Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon – including Tyre, the country’s fourth largest city – have killed at least 14 people as their conflict with Hezbollah continues.
Israel had issued warnings to eight buildings in and around the coastal city before the incidents, prompting many people to flee the area.
Scores of others were injured, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health and the state-run National News Agency.
Meanwhile, an Israeli soldier was killed in a Hezbollah drone strike in northern Israel, the Israeli military said. Two reserves were injured.
On Thursday afternoon, the Israeli army issued another warning to evacuate Tire and its surroundings.
Considered one of the oldest cities in the world, Tire has several archaeological sites, some of which are submerged, including Roman baths, a colonnaded road, a Roman settlement, the remains of a cathedral built in 1127, a hippodrome built in the second century and the remains of the El-Bass necropolis.
The city was officially declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.
‘Deep pain and deep concern’
Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi said in a statement that he was following “with great pain and great concern” the ongoing Israeli attack on Tyre.
“I have started a series of communication with lawyers who want this attack to be stopped immediately and to raise my voice to protect the cultural heritage,” he said.
This intensification comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an increase in attacks by the Israeli army in Lebanon, which was caused by Hezbollah’s use of fiber-optic drones that attacked Israeli forces in Lebanon and reached some cities on the border of northern Israel.
Lebanese and Israeli military officials will hold their first security talks on Friday in Washington. The talks extended a ceasefire that went into effect on April 17, although attacks have intensified.
Hezbollah rejected the talks and instead endorsed its key ally Iran, which made ending the war in Lebanon a condition of its talks with Pakistan-led Washington.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said Netanyahu had ordered the military to “deepen” its operations in Lebanon, which he said included kidnappings and strengthening the area to protect communities in northern Israel.
Despite these tensions, Mencer said Israel will continue the US-Lebanon talks in Washington, saying the talks aim to disarm Hezbollah and reach “a peace agreement that will strengthen security and stability in our region.”
5 children died in the apartment strike
In the north of the city of Sidon, an Israeli plane hit a building where other displaced families live, killing five people and injuring 21, including five children. Among those who were killed was Hossan Zeidan, who was a former journalist of Iran’s al-Aalam Arabic language television.
Mohammad Al-Gharbi, who lived across the street from the building, woke up to the sound of the explosion.
“I was in my room when part of the wall and broken glass fell on me, and there was chaos,” he said. “This building that was hit had six apartments that were occupied by poor families who fled south to escape the attack there, but it was hit here.”
An increase in attacks on both sides of the border has put the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah at risk.
In the nearby coastal town of Adloun, an Israeli jet crashed into a car and a fleeing family, killing six people, four of whom were two children and their parents, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said. Another drone strike that came without warning killed two people who were riding a motorcycle near Tyre. The purpose of the attack was not yet clear, NNA reported.
Elsewhere near the town of Nabatiyeh, the Lebanese army said a soldier was killed in an Israeli strike while driving his motorcycle.
Hezbollah has claimed a number of drone and rocket attacks that it says have targeted Israeli forces in southern Lebanon and northern Israel. The group said on Thursday that it had attacked several Israeli soldiers and tanks that had crossed the Litani river and entered the town of Zawtar al-Sharqieh near Nabatiyeh, as fighting continued.
More than a million people in Lebanon were displaced by the war between Israel and Hezbollah, which broke out when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel on March 2 in cooperation with Iran, two days after the start of the Iran war.
At least 3,269 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since the start of the war, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health, and more than 9,800 have been injured.
According to Netanyahu’s office, at least 23 Israeli soldiers and contractors were killed in or near southern Lebanon and two civilians were killed in northern Israel, mostly by drones.
