A man walks amid the devastation in the aftermath of an Israeli strike that targeted the Sfeir neighbourhood in Beiruts southern suburbs on October 6, 2024. – A huge fireball lit up the night sky and plumes of smoke rose over south Beirut early on October 6 as Israel unleashed intense air strikes targeting Hezbollah, nearly a year since the Gaza war erupted. (Photo by AFP)
Official Lebanese media reported Israeli strikes on south Beirut Sunday shortly after calls by Israel’s army for residents to evacuate the Hezbollah stronghold — repeatedly bombarded for several days.
“Enemy warplanes launched two strikes on the southern suburbs, the first targeted the Saint Therese area, and the second targeted the Burj al-Barajneh area,” Lebanon’s National News Agency said.
An AFP correspondent said her windows shook after one of the strikes and another heard loud explosions.
AFP live video footage captured three strikes, one of them triggering a big explosion with flaming flares shooting out as thick black smoke billowed.
In the night from Saturday to Sunday, the southern suburbs were hit by more than 30 strikes, the NNA said, in one of the most intense barrages yet.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and its foe Israel have been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire for nearly a year in fallout from the Gaza war.
But since September 23, Israel has launched devastating air strikes on targets in Lebanon that have killed more than 1,110 people and forced more than one million to flee their homes.
Israel last week killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in south Beirut, a densely populated area before residents fled Israel’s intensifying bombardment.
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