New strikes this Monday morning targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut, stronghold of Lebanese Hezbollah, after an order from the Israeli army to evacuate neighborhoods in this sector which had already been violently shelled on Sunday evening.
Three buildings targeted
“Israeli aircraft carried out three strikes on the surroundings of Haret Hreik”, a neighborhood in the southern suburbs, said the National News Agency (ANI, official). The Arabic-speaking spokesperson for the Israeli army Avichay Adraee had warned on the X platform that three buildings in Haret Hreik were going to be targeted, calling on residents to evacuate. The IDF later claimed to have struck “several Hezbollah command centers” in the suburbs.
This area on the outskirts of Beirut has been deserted by a large part of its inhabitants since strikes began to target it intensively two months ago. This Monday, classes were suspended in schools in Beirut and its region after a particularly violent weekend, during which the suburbs were intensely bombed.
Hezbollah’s response
On Saturday, a residential building in the heart of Beirut was also the target of a raid which left 29 dead according to the Lebanese authorities. Israel also indicated that it had targeted a Hezbollah command center.
On September 23, the Hebrew State launched massive strikes on Lebanon against Hezbollah which, after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 on Israeli soil, had opened a “support front” for the Palestinian Islamist movement by firing rockets into Israeli territory.
The Lebanese movement responded on Sunday by firing around 250 projectiles into Israeli territory according to the Israeli army, targeting in particular the Tel Aviv region (center) and the south. The pro-Iranian formation claimed 50 attacks on Sunday against Israeli territory and the Israeli troops it is fighting in southern Lebanon, a record since the start of violence in October 2023.
According to Lebanon's Health Ministry, at least 3,754 people have been killed in the country since October 2023, most since September this year.
