11 dead, dozens hurt as huge Israeli strike razes building in Beirut's Basta

An Israeli air strike in central Beirut killed at least 11 people early Saturday, bringing down a residential building and jolting residents across the city out of bed as Israel kept up its air campaign against Hezbollah.

The attack was followed by others in the city's southern suburbs after calls by Israel's military to evacuate the area.

Rescue operations were underway in the city center on Saturday morning, with an excavator removing the rubble of the eight-story building, and a fire truck and civil defense rescuers stationed nearby as people gathered around the site.

"The strike was so strong it felt like the building was about to fall on our heads," said Samir, 60, who lives in a building facing the one that was destroyed.

He said he fled his home in the middle of the night with his wife and children.

"We saw two dead people on the ground... The children started crying and their mother cried even more," he told AFP.

The Israeli strike in the working-class Basta neighborhood killed at least 11 people and wounded 63, Lebanon's health ministry said, adding it had also left behind "a large amount of body parts that are being identified."

"The final death toll will be determined after DNA tests are carried out," the ministry said in a statement.

The state-run National News Agency said Israeli jets had launched six missiles at the structure, causing "widespread destruction in buildings" nearby.

The predawn attack in Basta was not preceded by an evacuation warning from Israel's military. Similar strikes carried out without warning outside of Hezbollah's traditional bastions have tended to target high-level members.

Israel declined to comment on the strike, while Hezbollah had yet to mention it. But the state-run Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation and the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV said Hezbollah "operations room chief" Mohammad Haidar was the target of the strike, with his fate still unknown.

Another strike hit the neighborhood of Hadath in Beirut's southern suburbs, which are a stronghold of Hezbollah.

Israel stepped up its campaign against the Iran-backed group in late September, targeting areas where it holds sway in the country's east, south and south Beirut, and later sending in ground troops after nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire.

Lebanon's health ministry says at least 3,645 people have been killed since October 2023, when Hezbollah initiated cross-border clashes with Israel in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas over the Gaza war. Most of the deaths have been since September this year.