Israel says the major attacks that levelled multiple residential buildings in southern Beirut targeted Hezbollah’s ‘central command’.Israel targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut in a series of attacks on Friday in the heaviest bombardment since it escalated its offensive against Lebanon earlier this month.
More than a dozen explosions were reported in the neighbourhood of Dahiyeh, which had already been targeted by air raids in recent days. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said the attacks destroyed at least seven buildings in the Haret Hreik suburb of the neighbourhood, turning them into a pile of rubble. The station said more than 15 missiles struck the area. Civil defence teams are working on putting out multiple fires in the area and asked people to donate blood due to the likelihood of a high number of casualties.
The explosions were heard as far away as Jounieh, a 25-minute drive north of Beirut. “This attack was massive,” said Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr. “I have covered a lot of aftermaths of Israeli airstrikes in these southern suburbs of Beirut but nothing like this.”
Why did Israel attack there?
Israeli military officials said they had targeted the “central headquarters of Hezbollah” built under “residential buildings” in what they called a “precise strike.” They warned that they still had “more work to do” and suggested more attacks were coming.
Israeli media reported that Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasr …
