BEIRUT – Israel launched at least 10 air strikes on south Beirut yesterday morning, Lebanese state media said, shortly after Israel’s army urged residents of several neighbourhoods to evacuate the Hezbollah bastion. 

“Israeli warplanes launched a very violent 10th strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs,” the official National News Agency (NNA) repor ted. AFPTV footage showed grey smoke covering the area, with big plumes rising after each strike. Earlier yesterday, the Israeli army told residents of four south- Beirut neighbourhoods to leave immediately, warning it would strike Hezbollah targets there. 

“You are located near facilities and interests affiliated with Hezbollah, against which the Israel Defence Forces will act in the near future,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X. The post included a map showing the buildings it would target in the Lebanese capital’s south. Witnesses told AFP they heard gunfire in the area ahead of the strikes – warning shots by residents for people to leave following the evacuation call. 

NNA also reported Israeli strikes across Lebanon’s south that destroyed a building in the main southern city of Nabatiyeh, and targeted the eastern city of Hermel. Last month, Israeli strikes razed Nabatiyeh’s historic marketplace, with another wave of attacks also hitting its municipality building and killing several, including the mayor. Since 23 September, Israel has intensified its air campaign, mainly targeting Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon’s east and south, and in southern Beirut. A week later, it sent in ground troops. 

It came after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges of fire, launched by Hezbollah in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, following their 7 October 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war. 

More than 3 240 people have been killed in Lebanon since the clashes began last year, according to the health ministry, the majority of them since late September. 

– Nampa/AFP