Israel strikes Lebanon, hits residential building in central Beirut

The thunder of war echoed across Lebanon on Wednesday as Israel continued its relentless aerial assault, striking a residential building in the heart of Beirut while unleashing fresh attacks across the country’s eastern and southern regions, the Al jazeera reported.

According to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA), the early-morning strikes left a trail of devastation. In the village of Tamnin al-Tahta in the Baalbek district, at least seven people were killed and five others wounded, though earlier reports suggested the death toll may have reached 10. In nearby Zlaya, in the Bekaa region, another life was lost as the bombardment rippled across the valley.

Violence also gripped the south. In Saf al-Hawa, within the Bint Jbeil district, an Israeli drone strike targeted a vehicle, killing three people, NNA reported, as the expanding theatre of conflict engulfed towns and villages alike.

In central Beirut’s Aisha Bakkar neighbourhood, a multistorey residential building was struck in what appeared to be a precision attack. The number of casualties from the strike remains unclear, but journalists on the ground reported scenes of panic and destruction. Al Jazeera reported that many residents of the building had been rushed to hospitals, with unconfirmed reports of both deaths and injuries.

The building was neither a known stronghold of the militant group Hezbollah nor situated in an area typically associated with the group’s influence. Instead, it stood in a densely populated residential quarter where ordinary families had believed themselves to be beyond the reach of the war, the Al Jazeera reported.

Flames continued to lick the structure hours later, with at least two apartments ablaze one above the other, their charred facades bearing witness to the force of the blast. The intended target, if any, remains unknown, the Al Jazeera reported.

The neighbourhood had become a refuge for families displaced from Beirut’s southern suburbs after repeated Israeli threats and bombardments. Some of the displaced, unable to find shelter, had been sleeping in the streets — believing this district might offer a brief sanctuary from the violence.

But across Lebanon, that hope has steadily faded. The Lebanese government estimates that nearly 780,000 people have now been displaced as the country becomes a punishing front in the widening regional war that began with attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran.

Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah have intensified dramatically in recent days. Since Israel renewed large-scale attacks on Lebanon last Monday, at least 570 people have been killed in the country. By contrast, Israel reports that two of its soldiers have died in Lebanon, while several civilians have been injured by Hezbollah rocket fire inside Israel.

Elsewhere in Lebanon overnight, the violence continued unabated. In the village of Hanaway in the Tyre district, two Israeli air strikes killed three civilians — including a paramedic — according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health. Another strike in the al-Housh area of Tyre left one person dead and eight others wounded.

Further attacks were reported in the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, where two people were killed, while Israeli drones struck a café in al-Housh and a house in the town of al-Shahabiya, wounding several people. In Tibnin, also in the Bint Jbeil district, four more were injured in another strike.

Amid the escalating humanitarian crisis, the international community has begun responding. France announced it would send 60 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Lebanon, including sanitation kits, hygiene supplies, mattresses, lamps and a mobile medical post, according to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.

At the same time, the United Nations renewed its call for restraint. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric urged an “immediate de-escalation,” warning that Israeli evacuation orders and ongoing hostilities have forced hundreds of thousands of civilians from their homes.

Humanitarian officials say nearly the entire population living south of the Litani River, along with communities in parts of the Baalbek governorate, the Bekaa Valley and vast stretches of Beirut’s southern suburbs, is now caught in the widening vortex of conflict — a war that shows little sign of loosening its grip on the battered nation.