Serial strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, several buildings razed

At least ten Israeli strikes targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut on Tuesday morning, less than an hour after calls from the Israeli army to evacuate eleven buildings in the neighborhoods of Haret Hreik, Ghobeiri, Hadath and Laylaki.

In images taken by our photographer Mohammad Yassine, we can see thick columns of gray smoke rising from the targeted neighborhoods, which border Beirut, while the explosions echoed in the capital.

According to the National Information Agency (Ani, official), these strikes destroyed numerous buildings, notably in the Hadath-Jamous area, the “Zein” medical center in Bir el-Abed, which was not mentioned on maps published by the Israeli army, as well as the building in which the “Harqous Chicken” restaurant is located in Haret Hreik. According to videos circulating in local media, this building has completely collapsed. A bombing also targeted the outskirts of the Sayyeda Zeinab complex in Haret Hreik.

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Haret Hreik, Hadath, Laylaki and Ghobeiri

“For your safety and that of your family members, you must immediately evacuate these buildings and those adjacent to them and move away from them to a distance of at least 500 meters,” indicated, shortly before the strikes, the spokesperson for the army in Arabic. In a message on the social network X, Avichay Adraee identified eleven buildings in the southern suburbs, six in Haret Hreik, three in Hadath, one in Laylaki and one in Ghobeiri.

In neighborhoods almost deserted by residents, heavy gunfire had been heard before, with the aim of alerting people who were not aware of the Israeli call to evacuate, witnesses told AFP. Since the end of September, the Israeli air force has regularly shelled the southern suburbs, where between 600,000 and 800,000 people live according to estimates. The last strikes on the suburbs date back to the night of Friday to Saturday. On September 23, the Israeli army launched a campaign of massive strikes targeting Hezbollah strongholds in particular.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Israeli army carried out a strike on a building in Baalchmay, in the Aley neighborhood. According to the Ministry of Health, the strike killed five people and injured two. Five people were also killed in an Israeli strike on Tefahta (Saida), according to our correspondent in the region. The targeted house was destroyed and other surrounding buildings damaged.

Also on Tuesday, according to Ani, raids targeted the large town of Nabatiyé, in the south of the country, whose historic market has already been destroyed and the mayor killed. Strikes also targeted the Hermel region in the eastern Bekaa plain, bordering Syria, where Hezbollah is based, leaving one dead, according to the agency.

More than 3,240 people have been killed according to Lebanese authorities since the start of clashes in October 2023, when Hezbollah opened the southern Lebanese front with Israel to support Hamas in the Gaza Strip where the Palestinian movement is at war against Israel. Most of the victims have been killed since September 23, when Israel launched its bombing campaign coupled with a ground offensive in Lebanon.