Israel attacks Beirut in ‘targeted killing’ attempt, kills several in south

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Israel’s devastating assault on Lebanon rages on, killing at least 16 people in the capital Beirut and in south Lebanon, a punishing front in the wider war launched by the United States and Israel on Iran.

An Israeli strike early on Friday hit a car in Jnah, a coastal neighbourhood in southwestern Beirut, and killed one person, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said.

An Israeli strike also hit an apartment in the Nabaa neighborhood, home to a sizable Armenian community, leaving it engulfed in flames, with no casualties immediately reported.

It was the first time this area has been struck in this conflict or during the 2024 war between Hezbollah and Israel.

A total of 687 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon in just less than two weeks, including 98 children. More than 800,000 people have also been forcibly displaced by Israeli attacks.

Following the strikes, the Israeli army claimed it had targeted a Hezbollah member in Beirut.

“They were going after cash reserves by Hezbollah, which they said were in the basement of some of these buildings,” said Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett, reporting from the capital.

Both neighbourhoods are far from the southern suburbs of Beirut, which the Israeli military has declared unsafe and issued forced displacement threats for, and continues to pound daily.

Later on Friday, an Israeli drone hit a residential apartment building in Bourj Hammoud, a suburb to the northeast of Beirut, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).

Israeli forces have also continued to bombard southern Lebanon and other parts of the country, according to NNA.

Nine people, including five children, were killed in the town of Arki near Sidon.

Three people were also killed in the town of Ain Ebel, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

An Israeli attack also killed three people in Barish in the Tyre district.

Two people were killed and three critically wounded in an Israeli attack on an apartment in Bar Elias in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley.

The agency reported that the attack had targeted an official of the Islamic Group, critically wounding the man and killing his two sons.

Another Israeli attack killed a Lebanese woman from the southern Lebanese town of Abba.

An Israeli attack in the Tayr Felsay area, meanwhile, hit an ambulance.

The ⁠Israeli ⁠military also struck the Zrarieh Bridge over the ⁠Litani River, claiming it was a key crossing used by Hezbollah.

Qatar, early on Friday, strongly condemned Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon, describing them as a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law”.

Twelve independent UN human rights experts, meanwhile, issued a joint statement condemning the “ongoing military assaults on Iran and Lebanon by the United States and Israel as flagrant violations of international law”.

According to Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, there appears to be an Israeli military strategy to exert maximum pressure in Lebanon, not just against Hezbollah but against the government.

“Over the past 24 hours, Israeli officials have had very harsh words for the Lebanese government,” said Khodr.

“Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said if the government does not confront Hezbollah and stop its attacks, then we will control Lebanese territory. [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has also said the Lebanese government has been told they are playing with fire if they do not confront Hezbollah.”

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has repeatedly said the government is committed to reclaiming state sovereignty, with his cabinet outlawing Hezbollah’s military wing, she explained.

“But he says it is very difficult to enforce such measures during a war,” said Khodr.

Lebanon’s army chief, Rodolphe Haykal, has come under criticism for stating that if the army confronts Hezbollah, there is a chance of a split along sectarian lines, she said.

“So, Lebanon’s political leadership says they want to enforce measures against Hezbollah, but the army is reluctant and careful to do so.”

Israeli media, meanwhile, reported that 80 people were wounded after a rocket fell on the Galilee area.

Channel 12 reported that the missile hit a building in the town of Kiryat Tivon near the city of Haifa, causing damage to the structure.

More than 30 people, meanwhile, were reported injured in an attack in the country’s northern area of Zarzir.

“These rockets that sometimes are being coordinated between Hezbollah and Iran are overwhelming the aerial defence systems,” said Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

Late on Thursday, a barrage of rockets made an impact in a Palestinian city in northern Israel, leading to dozens of people injured, “raising questions among Palestinians living inside Israel: Are the aerial defence systems racist in design?” said Ibrahim.

“Are they meant to protect the Israelis and leave the Palestinians unprotected? Of course, we cannot not mention that the aerial defence systems have been overwhelmed and have been failing at times to intercept the Iranian missiles, as well as the Hezbollah missiles,” she added.