Media reports say Israel bombed central Beirut early on Thursday, killing at least six people, after its forces suffered their deadliest day on the Lebanese front in a year of clashes against the Hezbollah group.
The Guardian reports that residents in Beirut heard a missile flying above the city before hearing the sound of the explosion. Videos showed the floor of an apartment building burning. Residents living in nearby areas began to flee, driving away quickly in scooters and cars.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was targeting Beirut and issued evacuation warnings for various locations throughout the night. Three missiles also hit the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed last week, and loud explosions were heard, Lebanese security officials said.
Reuters reports that Lebanese health officials said at least six people were killed and seven wounded. According to them, a further 46 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on the city in the previous 24 hours.
The BBC says this is the first Israeli strike close to Beirut's center – just meters away from Lebanon's parliament. There were five other air strikes overnight against targets in the southern suburb of Dahiyeh.
According to The Guardian, the IDF announced on Wednesday that eight soldiers were killed in ground combat in southern Lebanon. The largest group of soldiers, from the commando brigade and including an officer, was involved in a clash with Hezbollah in a village north of the Israeli border community of Misgav Am, while two other soldiers from the Golani brigade were killed in a separate incident.
The BBC reports that Hezbollah has been weakened after two weeks of Israeli strikes and other attacks that have killed more than 1,200 people across Lebanon and displaced around 1.2 million, according to Lebanese authorities.
