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An Israeli air strike killed at least seven people in a medical facility in the heart of Beirut in the early hours of Thursday, the deepest strike to hit the capital since fighting began.
The strike hit close to Lebanon’s parliament building and the seat of government in a densely populated neighbourhood far from the capital’s southern suburbs that Israel has pummelled over the past two weeks.
The medical facility was linked to Iran-backed militant group Hizbollah, and the bombing killed seven emergency responders and paramedics, the group said, and wounded several others.
The Israeli military said it had launched a “precise strike” but did not disclose its target. Several air strikes were also reported in the city’s southern suburbs.
The strike came two days after Israel announced a land offensive into southern Lebanon and suffered its heaviest losses there in almost a year of fighting. The Israeli military said eight soldiers were killed and several injured in clashes with Hizbollah militants inside Lebanon.
It came as Israel stepped up its offensive against Hizbollah, even as the region braced for its response to Tuesday’s attack by Tehran, which fired 180 missiles at Israel and intensified fears of an all-out war. The US has said Israel has the right to respond, although US President Joe Biden said any response should be “in proportion” and that he was opposed to attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Iran said its missile attack on Israel was in retaliation for the Israeli assassination of Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week and the killing of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.
The Israeli military has launched regular, devastating strikes on the densely populated southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, where Hizbollah has a major presence. It has only targeted a site within the city limits once in this conflict, when it killed three Palestinian militant group leaders with an apparent drone strike that destroyed one floor of an apartment building.
Israel’s assault has killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon in the past two weeks, according to Lebanese authorities, which said 46 people had been killed and 85 wounded over the past 24 hours.
In the early hours of Thursday, a large blast was heard across the city, with footage from the scene showing smoke rising over the night-time skyline and ambulance sirens wailing. Footage from Lebanese news outlets showed the blast had also damaged a cemetery.
“Another sleepless night in Beirut. Counting the blasts shaking the city. No warning sirens. Not knowing what’s next. Only that uncertainty lies ahead. Anxiety and fear are omnipresent,” said Jeanine Hennis, the UN special co-ordinator in Lebanon, on X.
The National News Agency also tallied 17 Israeli bombing raids across neighbourhoods in south Beirut.
Beyond its militant activities, Hizbollah has a political party and sprawling network of social services for its constituency that runs parallel to state institutions. These include schools, social welfare organisations and healthcare facilities such as the one struck on Thursday.
Additional reporting by Ahmed Al Omran in Jeddah
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