Strikes hit south Beirut after Israeli army warns residents to evacuate Hezbollah bastion

‘Israeli enemy warplanes carried out four very violent strikes on [Beirut’s] southern suburbs,’ Lebanon’s National News Agency said

Heavy fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon characterised the front late on Saturday evening, with Hezbollah firing 130 missiles into Israel and Israel continuing to attack targets in Lebanon, including at the capital Beirut.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it was bombing “terrorist targets” in Beirut, without giving any details. The information could not be independently verified, but explosions in the southern suburbs could be heard throughout the city, according to reporters.

The IDF had said that the Shiite militia had once again fired extensively on Israel. After sirens sounded after midnight in the area of the city of Kiriat Schmona in northern Israel, about 30 missiles were identified as having entered Israeli territory from Lebanon, the IDF said. Some missiles were intercepted, others fell in the area.

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The IDF said it will continue to attack targets in Lebanon to weaken Hezbollah and drive it back from the border.

Official Lebanese media said five Israeli strikes hit south Beirut and its outskirts on Saturday, four of them “very violent”, after the Israeli army warned residents to evacuate the Hezbollah bastion.

“Israeli enemy warplanes carried out four very violent strikes on [Beirut’s] southern suburbs, and one strike on the Chweifat” area, with ambulances rushing to the site, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said.

Footage filmed by Agence France-Presse showed plumes of smoke rising from the targeted areas, with one strike creating a ball of flame that rose into the air while flares shot up amid thick smoke.

The NNA later said air traffic at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport was “ongoing despite the Israeli enemy’s aggression on the southern suburbs. Several Middle East Airlines planes have just landed”.

The Israeli army earlier on Saturday night announced a new call for residents to evacuate from Beirut’s southern suburbs.

“For your safety and that of your family members, you must immediately evacuate the designated buildings and those near them and move away from them at least 500 metres,” said spokesman Avichay Adraee on social media, alongside satellite images highlighting areas in the Burj el-Barajneh, Haret Hreik and Chouaifat al-Amrussiya neighbourhoods.

A Lebanese family who fled Beirut’s southern suburb erects a makeshift tent on Saturday. Photo: dpa

The Israeli army is continuing its attacks in Lebanon from the air and with artillery fire. According to the Lebanese state agency NNA, attacks late on Saturday were aimed at Udaissa in the southeast, where the Shiite militia Hezbollah had reported initial fighting with Israeli ground troops.

According to NNA reports, the Israeli air force carried out several attacks on villages in the south, including near Tyre and Nabatiyeh, as well as in suburbs south of the capital Beirut. In some cases, large fires broke out. A drone attack also hit the coastal town of Ghaziyeh.

The Lebanese Health Ministry reported 25 additional deaths and more than 120 additional injuries as a result of Israeli attacks. The ministry does not distinguish in its figures between Hezbollah members and civilians.

In addition to the area around Udaissa, which, according to the NNA reports, was heavily shelled by the Israeli army, there is still heavy shelling near Bint Jubayl, close to the demarcation line with Israel.

According to their own statements, Israeli ground troops have destroyed Hezbollah tunnels and weapons caches in this area. These statements cannot be independently verified.

Reporting by Agence France-Presse, dpa

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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.