Four dead in Israeli strike on Beirut, first since October 7

A Lebanese security source reported four deaths in an Israeli strike on a residential apartment in Beirut on Monday, the first targeting the heart of the capital since the attack by Palestinian Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023.

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According to this source, “at least four people were killed in an Israeli drone strike targeting an apartment belonging to Jamaa Islamiya in Beirut intramural.”

This Lebanese Sunni Islamist group has supported Hezbollah in its operations carried out in northern Israel “in support” of Palestinian Hamas in Gaza since October 2023.

Videos relayed by local television channels show the partially razed floor of the building targeted by the strike, in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Cola, adjoining the airport road.

AFP journalists reported drones flying over the Lebanese capital throughout the day on Sunday.

If in recent days the Israeli army has repeatedly shelled the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah, this is the first time that it has targeted Beirut within its walls since the start of the front opened by Hezbollah on October 8 in support for Hamas in its war against Israel in Gaza.

Formed in 1960, Jamaa Islamiya belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, just like Hamas. It has been the target of several Israeli strikes since the start of the escalation on October 8 on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

This strike comes as the Israeli army maintains its military pressure against Hezbollah for the seventh consecutive day.

Strikes against Hezbollah strongholds across Lebanon left at least 105 dead again on Sunday, two days after killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah along with dozens of members of the Shiite Islamist movement.

The Israeli army has intensified its bombings against Hezbollah since September 23, to allow the return to northern Israel of residents displaced due to regular shooting from Lebanon.