At least 22 killed in Israeli air strikes on central Beirut

Italy’s Defence Ministry has summoned the Israeli ambassador in protest against strikes on UNIFIL personnel that wounded two peacekeepers.

At least 22 people have been killed and 117 others wounded in Israeli air strikes on two densely-populated areas of central Beirut.
The air raids in the centre of the Lebanese capital apparently targeted two residential buildings in separate neighbourhoods simultaneously, that the Israeli military (IDF) claimed were affiliated with the militant group Hezbollah.
Israeli strikes have been more common in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has based many of its operations.
Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV reported that an attempt to kill Wafiq Safa, a top security official with the group, had failed. It said that Safa had not been inside of either of the targeted buildings.
Thursday’s strikes follow a year of tit-for-tat exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel that boiled over into all-out war in recent weeks, with Israel carrying out waves of heavy strikes across Lebanon and launching a ground invasion at the end of September.
Hezbollah has expanded its rocket fire to more populated areas deeper inside Israel, causing few casualties but disrupting daily life.
The Beirut attacks came the same day as Israeli forces fired on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, wounding two.
The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said in a statement that its headquarters and positions “have been repeatedly hit” by Israeli forces.
It said an Israeli tank “directly” fired on an observation tower at the force’s headquarters in the town of Naqoura and that soldiers had attacked a bunker near where peacekeepers were sheltering, damaging vehicles and a communication system.
That prompted widespread condemnation with Italy’s Defence Ministry summoning Israel’s ambassador in protest and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni calling the attack “unacceptable”.
Speaking the UN Security Council, the under-secretary-general for peace operations, slammed the Israeli strikes on UNIFIL personnel.
“This situation has put our peacekeepers at serious risk,” said Jean-Pierre Lacroix.
UNIFIL, which has more than 10,000 peacekeepers from dozens of countries, was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion.
Hezbollah, which is ideologically aligned with Hamas, began firing rockets into Israel on 8 October last year, it says in support of the Palestinians in Gaza.
Hezbollah kept up rocket fire into Israel on Thursday, setting off air raid sirens in parts of northern Israel.
Several drones heading toward Israel were intercepted, the military said.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the security cabinet would convene on Thursday night to discuss the country’s response.
The Lebanese health ministry says more than 2,000 people have been killed in exchanges of fire with Israel since last October and tens of thousands have been displaced on both sides of the border.