Beirut
\nIsrael has carried out at least a dozen air strikes on Beirut on Saturday in the heaviest attack the Lebanese capital witnessed in more than a week.
\nHuge plumes of smoke were seen rising over the city\u2019s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah\u2019s main base is located.
\nIn some cases the Israeli military gave warnings to residents to get out, but not much time – in one place just a few minutes.
\nDamage and casualties were still being assessed, but at least one multi-storey building had been completely destroyed.
\nThe Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah\u2019s weapons storage facilities and its intelligence headquarters command centre in Dahieh.
\nAlso on Saturday, Hezbollah said it fired rockets at the Israeli city of Haifa and areas to its north. One man was killed by shrapnel, Israeli medics said.
\nAfter three quiet days in Beirut, the southern suburbs were once again thundering with the sound of Israeli air strikes on Saturday.
\nThick, billowing smoke, black at first, then grey, rose from several neighbourhoods, darkening the sky.
\nTwo of the strikes were close to Beirut\u2019s airport, which is still being used for scheduled civilian flights.
\nIn the space of one hour, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued three urgent evacuation warnings to residents in several districts in the area.
\nIsraeli forces were also continuing to target areas outside of Beirut.
\nNorth of the city, one couple was filmed trying to escape a suspected Israeli drone. They stopped their car on the side of a highway and ran into the undergrowth, but were killed by a reported missile strike, according to Lebanese state-run National News Agency (NNA).
\nElsewhere in Lebanon, NNA reported that five people were killed – including a local mayor – in an Israeli strike in the eastern Bekaa Valley region.
\nSeveral others were wounded in what the NNA said was a strike on a residential apartment.
\nIsrael said it is hitting targets in Lebanon linked to the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
\nThe latest Israeli strikes come after the IDF said more than 100 rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon.
\nA drone also targeted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s private residence in the northern coastal city of Caesarea on Saturday morning. The prime minister was not home at the time.
\nThe previously sporadic cross-border fighting between Hezbollah and Israel escalated in October 2023 – when the Lebanese militant group fired at Israeli positions, in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza.
\nUS President Joe Biden has said there is a chance of \u201cworking towards a ceasefire\u201d in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting Hezbollah militants, but it will be \u201charder in Gaza\u201d.
\nThe war in Gaza began after Hamas\u2019s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 left around 1,200 people dead, with 251 taken to Gaza as hostages.
\nIsrael vowed to destroy Hamas in response, and since then at least 42,500 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beirut Israel has carried out at least a dozen air strikes on Beirut on Saturday in the heaviest attack the Lebanese capital witnessed in more than a week. Huge plumes of smoke were seen rising over the city\u2019s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah\u2019s main base is located. In some cases the Israeli military gave warnings to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-438493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n