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An Israeli air strike killed not less than seven individuals in a medical facility within the coronary heart of Beirut within the early hours of Thursday, the deepest strike to hit the capital since preventing started.
The strike hit near Lebanon’s parliament constructing and the seat of presidency in a densely populated neighbourhood removed from the capital’s southern suburbs that Israel has pummelled over the previous two weeks.
The medical facility was linked to Iran-backed militant group Hizbollah, and the bombing killed seven emergency responders and paramedics, the group mentioned, and wounded a number of others.
The Israeli army mentioned it had launched a “exact strike” however didn’t disclose its goal. A number of air strikes have been additionally reported within the metropolis’s southern suburbs.
The strike got here two days after Israel introduced a land offensive into southern Lebanon and suffered its heaviest losses there in nearly a yr of preventing. The Israeli army mentioned eight troopers have been killed and several other injured in clashes with Hizbollah militants inside Lebanon.
It got here as Israel stepped up its offensive in opposition to Hizbollah, even because the area braced for its response to Tuesday’s assault by Tehran, which fired 180 missiles at Israel and intensified fears of an all-out struggle. The US has mentioned Israel has the appropriate to reply, though US President Joe Biden mentioned any response ought to be “in proportion” and that he was against assaults on Iran’s nuclear services.
The Israeli army has launched common, devastating strikes on the densely populated southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, the place Hizbollah has a significant presence. It has solely focused a website throughout the metropolis limits as soon as on this battle, when it killed three Palestinian militant group leaders with an obvious drone strike that destroyed one flooring of an house constructing.
Israel’s assault has killed greater than 1,000 individuals in Lebanon prior to now two weeks, based on Lebanese authorities, which mentioned 46 individuals had been killed and 85 wounded over the previous 24 hours.
Within the early hours of Thursday, a big blast was heard throughout town, with footage from the scene exhibiting smoke rising over the night-time skyline and ambulance sirens wailing. Footage from Lebanese information shops confirmed the blast had additionally broken a cemetery.
“One other sleepless evening in Beirut. Counting the blasts shaking town. No warning sirens. Not figuring out what’s subsequent. Solely that uncertainty lies forward. Nervousness and concern are omnipresent,” mentioned Jeanine Hennis, the UN particular co-ordinator in Lebanon, on X.
The Nationwide Information Company additionally tallied 17 Israeli bombing raids throughout neighbourhoods in south Beirut.
Past its militant actions, Hizbollah has a political occasion and sprawling community of social providers for its constituency that runs parallel to state establishments. These embody faculties, social welfare organisations and healthcare services such because the one struck on Thursday.
Further reporting by Ahmed Al Omran in Jeddah
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