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A series of Israeli strikes targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, on Tuesday morning. This shortly after calls from the Israeli army to evacuate four neighborhoods, according to official Lebanese media.
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November 12, 2024 – 12.22pm
(Keystone-ATS) On AFPTV images, 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 official National News Agency (ANI), ten violent attacks were carried out by the Israeli air force on the southern suburbs.
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.
Historic market destroyed, mayor killed
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 latest attacks on the suburbs date back to the night of Friday to Saturday.
On September 23, the Israeli army launched a massive bombing campaign targeting Hezbollah strongholds in particular. 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.
More than 3,200 dead
Attacks also targeted the Hermel region in the eastern Bekaa plain, bordering Syria, where Hezbollah is based, 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 Islamist movement is at war. against Israel.
Most of the victims have been killed since last September, when Israel launched its bombing campaign and ground offensive in Lebanon.
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