Israel launches wave of violent strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs
Lebanon's state media reported a slew of Israeli air strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday, after the Israeli military posted evacuation calls online for parts of the Hezbollah bastion.
AFPTV footage showed smoke billowing above the area on Sunday evening, following earlier raids in the afternoon.
AFP journalists in the city and its outskirts heard loud explosions, with car alarms going off throughout one Beirut street.
"A series of violent strikes are targeting Haret Hreik, Bir al-Abed and Ghobeiri in the southern suburbs of Beirut," the official National News Agency (NNA) reported.
Earlier in the day, it had reported two Israeli strikes on south Beirut, about an hour after the Israeli military issued warnings online.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in Sunday's strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, which have been largely emptied of their residents during the fighting.
The area has been repeatedly struck since September 23, when Israel intensified its air campaign also targeting Hezbollah bastions in Lebanon's east and south.
It later sent in ground troops to southern Lebanon.
The afternoon raids on Sunday "caused massive destruction over a large geographical area" of the Kafaat district, the NNA said.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee had earlier warned on social media platform X that the military would strike "Hezbollah facilities and interests" in the Hadath and Burj al-Barajneh districts, also sharing maps of the areas to be evacuated.
In the evening, he repeated the calls to evacuate the two districts, also listing additional neighborhoods in the area.
A military statement said Israeli "fighter jets... attacked Hezbollah military headquarters" in south Beirut.
The full-blown war since late September came after nearly a year of limited exchanges of fire between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel.
These were initiated by in support of its ally Hamas, after the Palestinian group's October 7, 2023 attack sparked the Gaza war.
Source: Agence France Presse
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