Multiple Israeli strikes hit central Beirut districts

Multiple strikes hit Beirut on Tuesday, including areas not previously targeted in two months of war, state media reported, after Israel’s military made unprecedented calls to evacuate central districts.

Some of the strikes came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the security cabinet was set to agree to a truce with Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

An AFP video journalist saw smoke rising from a building in the normally busy Hamra district, home to residential buildings, restaurants, offices, shops, the American University of Beirut and its associated hospital.

Israel’s military had earlier issued an evacuation warning ahead of the strike, sparking panic as people tried to flee the area amid heavy traffic.

A Lebanese security source, requesting anonymity, told AFP the strike targeted “a money exchange and transfer company”.

The official National News Agency (NNA) also reported an Israeli air strike on a branch of Al-Qard al-Hassan, a Hezbollah-linked financial firm, in the central Zuqaq al-Blat neighbourhood, again after an Israeli warning.

“Enemy aircraft” also targeted Beirut’s normally busy Mar Elias shopping and residential district, the NNA reported.

Streets across the capital were largely deserted with terrified residents staying indoors as strikes hit central areas largely spared during Israel’s two-month bombing campaign of the city’s southern suburbs.

An Israeli drone buzzed incessantly overhead as the sound of other aircraft and air strikes resounded across Beirut.

The security source said another Israeli strike Tuesday that hit a building in the Barbour area targeted the brother of Hezbollah lawmaker Amin Sherri, who had earlier visited the site of a raid on the central Nweiri neighbourhood where he made a defiant speech to reporters.

The health ministry said at least three people were killed in the Barbour strike, and seven in Nweiri.

AFP