Israeli attacks hit Beirut, southern Lebanon, one million displaced

Israeli air attacks have rained down on three neighbourhoods in Beirut, Lebanese state media reported, as the beleaguered nation says more than one million have been displaced since this punishing front in the wider regional war began more than two weeks ago.

“A series of raids and artillery shelling targeted southern towns at dawn,” Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said on Tuesday.

“Israeli warplanes carried out two air strikes targeting the Kafaat and Haret Hreik areas” in the capital Beirut, and another air strike on a residential apartment building in the Doha Aramoun area, NNA added.

An Ethiopian woman was wounded in the strikes, it said, quoting the Ministry of Public Health. Israel confirmed it had carried out the attacks, saying it was targeting Hezbollah.

Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett, reporting from Beirut, said the strike in Aramoun, an area just south of the capital, “wasn’t subject to an evacuation order”.

“This appears to be another attempted targeted assassination strike. It took out just one floor of a residential building,” she added.

Israeli attacks have killed at least 886 people, including 67 women and 111 children, since the start of the renewed fighting with Iran-aligned Hezbollah, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Monday, adding that 2,141 others have been wounded.

Also on Tuesday, Israel carried out air strikes on a building in the village of Arab al-Jal in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli army earlier issued a threat to residents to leave targeted areas or face danger, claiming it was targeting Hezbollah military infrastructure in the designated buildings.

Israeli jets also carried out air raids on Bint Jbeil, in southern Lebanon, NNA reported.

One million displaced

Lebanese authorities said more than one million people have registered as displaced since March 2, with more than 130,000 people staying in upwards of 600 collective shelters.

The Israeli military has issued sweeping evacuation warnings for southern Lebanon, extending more than 40km (25 miles) from its border to the north of the Litani River.

Defense Minister Israel Katz has threatened that displaced Lebanese will not return home “south of the Litani area until the safety of residents in the north (of Israel) is guaranteed”.

The Israeli army announced a “limited and targeted ground operation” against Hezbollah in Lebanon on Monday, with the military’s chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, saying the army is determined to “deepen” the operation until “all of our objectives are achieved”.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah on Monday said it was attacking Israeli forces on the border with Lebanon and in several frontier towns, including “direct clashes” in Khiam, across from north Israel’s Metula.

Since March 2, Hezbollah has repeatedly announced attacking Israeli forces and vehicles in Khiam, the first point into which Israeli forces advanced after the war began.

Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Ramallah, said Hezbollah has been firing an average of 100 rockets into Israel a day, sometimes in tandem with an Iranian salvo, sending hundreds of thousands of Israelis into shelters.

Israel’s position on prospective talks over southern Lebanon remains at best mixed, she added.

“When you talk to the foreign minister, Gideon Sar, he says there is no intention on Israel’s part to continue with these talks,” she said.

“But other sources say the talks are indeed expected to start in the coming few days. At the same time, we can read from military officials speaking to Israeli media that they are looking at these talks as a potential framework for a withdrawal from Lebanon.”