Airstrikes hit residential areas on southern edge of Beirut

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike targeting Beirut’s southern suburb of Shayah on Oct. 22, 2024. (AFP)

• Israel shells vicinity of a hospital, hints at targeting another hospital
• Afif declared Hezbollah’s “complete, exclusive responsibility for the Caesarea operation” that targeted the holiday home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

BEIRUT: Confrontations between the Israeli army and Hezbollah escalated on Tuesday, with continuous airstrikes on residential buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the cities of Nabatieh and Tyre in the south, and the city of Hermel in Bekaa.
The Israeli air strikes, which came close to hospitals, took their toll on civilians, with dozens of dead and injured in the past 24 hours as residential buildings collapsed on their inhabitants.
Terrifying scenes of buildings, some more than 10 stories high, collapsing due to missile strikes and turning into rubble within moments, were repeated, particularly in the Ghobeiry area, at the boundary between Beirut and its southern suburbs. This was preceded by an Israeli warning that coincided with a press conference held by Hezbollah’s media relations officer, Mohammed Afif, in the same area.
Afif declared Hezbollah’s “complete, exclusive responsibility for the Caesarea operation” that targeted the holiday home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday. This followed Iran’s confirmation, the day after the operation, that it had no involvement, and Hezbollah was named as the sole party responsible for carrying it out.
At the time, Hezbollah refrained from issuing any official statement taking responsibility for the drone attack.
Afif reiterated the party’s position that “there will be no negotiations under fire,” and that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri had been authorized to follow up on ceasefire talks with external parties.
He accused the US of being a “full partner in the aggression against Lebanon and its people. It is prolonging the aggression and is the primary party responsible for the horrific massacres targeting our people. The ideas presented by US envoy (Amos Hochstein) during his visit to Beirut on Monday were merely a preliminary test to gauge the resistance’s position amid the massacres and destruction.”
Afif said that the “Israeli shelling of Al-Qard Al-Hassan centers was entirely unjustified, as it is a licensed civilian institution and Hezbollah does not receive its funding from it.”
He indirectly confirmed the existence of Hezbollah prisoners held by the Israeli side, holding “the enemy responsible for preserving the lives of our prisoners.”
Afif said: “It won’t be long before we have enemy soldiers as prisoners. At one point in recent days, we were close to that.”
He added: “Hezbollah’s military and logistical support lines have returned to their previous state.”
Hezbollah’s escalation was met with a parallel response from Netanyahu, who confirmed that “northern residents will return to their homes, and this is a mission I have taken upon myself, and no local or external pressures will move me from it.”
During Afif’s press conference, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued a warning on his X account for residents to evacuate from an area in Ghobeiry, near the location where Afif held the press conference. Journalists rushed to leave before Afif concluded his speech, and moments later, airstrikes on the area began. The raids resulted in the collapse of three buildings and extensive damage to surrounding buildings.
Airstrikes this morning targeted the Laylaki area in Beirut’s southern suburbs and hit markets and commercial shops in Nabatieh, causing fires that resulted in the destruction of buildings, shops and cars. Airstrikes also targeted the city of Tyre and its vicinity.
Border towns were subjected to airstrikes and artillery shelling, which led to the deaths of civilians and collapse of more buildings.
In the morning, an intense airstrike targeted the city of Baalbek in Bekaa, and in the afternoon, an airstrike on the city of Hermel killed five people and injured seven.
Israeli warplanes attacked Jdeidat Yabous border town on the Syrian side, located near the Lebanese Masnaa Border Crossing.
On Monday night, heavy Israeli airstrikes targeted areas in Beirut’s southern suburbs for the first time, especially in Ouzai, Beirut’s southern entrance, as well as the vicinity of (governmental) Rafik Hariri University Hospital. The Ministry of Health announced that “the airstrike, which hit residential houses, killed 13 people, including a child, while the number of wounded rose to 57, seven of whom are in critical condition. The airstrike caused significant damage to a hospital.”
In another post, Adraee claimed that under the Sahel Hospital, in the Musharrafieh area of Beirut’s southern suburb, there are “tunnels where Hezbollah stores money and gold,” but did not warn of a raid.
The hospital’s administration quickly held a press conference in which it denied “these allegations.”
Mazen Alameh, the hospital director, described the Israeli warning as “shocking and startling news. We are a private hospital known in all of Lebanon, with no political or religious affiliation. The hospital was built by Dr. Fakhri Alameh 42 years ago, and it is impossible to have any tunnel or bunker underneath it.”
Meanwhile, the government announced that during the past 48 hours, 235 airstrikes as well as shelling were recorded in various parts of Lebanon, mostly concentrated in the south and Nabatieh, bringing the total number of attacks since the start of the conflict to 10,650.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health said that during the past 48 hours, 19 people were killed and 98 wounded. This takes the death toll since the start of the attacks to 2,467, with 11,569 wounded.