Israeli airstrikes kills 22 in Beirut, targets Hezbollah leader

Shafaq News/ Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes on Beirut late Thursday, targeting densely populated residential and commercial areas, resulting in widespread destruction and casualties.

Eyewitnesses told Shafaq News Agency that thick columns of smoke were seen rising from central Beirut following the sound of missiles streaking across the sky.

A Lebanese security source confirmed that Israeli forces conducted three strikes in the heart of the city. The first hit a residential building in Noueiri, the second leveled a four-story complex in Khatem al-Anbiya in Basta al-Fawqa, and the third targeted an area near Bshara al-Khoury. Details about the third strike remain unclear.

Israel's Channel 12 said that the target was Wafic Safa, a senior Hezbollah official responsible for the group’s coordination with Lebanese security forces.

Channel 12 described Safa as “Hezbollah’s de facto defense minister.”

Hezbollah has not issued any statement confirming or denying the reports.

By Friday, Lebanon's Ministry of Health reported 22 dead and 117 injured in the aftermath of the attacks. A security official noted that the casualties included a family of eight, among them three children, who had been evacuated from southern Lebanon.

The attacks mark the third time Israel has struck the Lebanese capital in recent months, significantly extending beyond Hezbollah’s stronghold in the southern suburbs.

Including Thursday’s attack, Israel targeted Beirut city six times, with one hit in the Cola region targeting an office of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and another in the Bachoura districts of Beirut, killing at least six.