Smoke rises over southern Beirut Photo: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters
On Wednesday morning, the southern suburbs of Beirut were struck by Israeli forces, Reuters reports. The strike came just hours after the United States expressed its opposition to the scale of Israeli attacks in Beirut, given the rising number of casualties and fears of a possible escalation of the conflict in the region.
Witnesses reported two powerful explosions that sent plumes of smoke billowing from two different areas of the southern suburbs. At the same time, Israel issued an evacuation order affecting only one building, although the strikes affected wider areas.
The Israeli army stated that the strike targeted an underground Hezbollah weapons depot in the southern Dahiya district. According to the army, measures were taken to minimise civilian casualties, including warnings to the public.
These attacks were part of Israel’s broader military operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where clashes have been ongoing for several weeks. Israeli strikes have affected about a quarter of Lebanon’s territory, prompting mass evacuations.
The United States, while supporting Israel, has expressed concern over the attacks. US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that Washington had conveyed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu its dissatisfaction with the scale of the bombings in Beirut in recent weeks.
Beirut was last bombed on 10 October, when strikes in the city centre killed 22 people and destroyed several buildings in a densely populated area.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is deepening as tensions in the region rise following Iran’s missile attack on Israel on 1 October. Iranian allies, such as Hezbollah, are supporting the fighting, complicating diplomatic efforts to reduce escalation.
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, Israeli attacks in the country over the past year have killed more than 2,350 people and injured about 11,000 others. About 1.2 million people have been displaced. These statistics reflect the heavy toll Lebanon is taking as Israel continues to target the infrastructure of Hezbollah, which is actively involved in the conflict on the side of Hamas in Gaza.
