Apartment building in Beirut hit as Israel widens air campaign

By Maya Gebeily and Laila Bassam

BEIRUT (Reuters) – An apartment building in Beirut was hit by an Israeli airstrike on Monday, according to Reuters witnesses, in the first attack within city limits as Israel escalated hostilities against Iran’s allies in the region.

The strike hit the upper floor of an apartment building in the Kola district of Lebanon’s capital, Reuters witnesses said.

A security source told Reuters that at least two people were killed. 

There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military.

Israel’s increasing frequency of attacks against the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and the Houthi militia in Yemen have prompted fears that Middle East fighting could spin out of control and draw in Iran and the United States, Israel’s main ally. 

Israel on Sunday launched airstrikes against the Houthi militia in Yemen and dozens of Hezbollah targets throughout Lebanon after earlier killing the Hezbollah leader.

The Houthi-run health ministry said at least four people were killed and 29 wounded in airstrikes on Yemen’s port of Hodeidah, which Israel said were a response to Houthi missile attacks.

In Lebanon, authorities said at least 105 people had been killed by Israeli air strikes on Sunday.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry has said more than 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and 6,000 wounded in the past two weeks, without saying how many were civilians. The government said a million people – a fifth of the population – have fled their homes.

The intensifying bombardment over two weeks has killed a string of top Hezbollah leaders, including its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. 

Israel has vowed to keep up the assault and says it wants to make its northern areas secure again for residents who have been forced to flee by Hezbollah rocket attacks. 

Israeli drones hovered over Beirut for much of Sunday, with the loud blasts of new airstrikes echoing around the Lebanese capital. Displaced families spent the night on benches at Zaitunay Bay, a string of restaurants and cafes on Beirut’s waterfront. 

Many of Israel’s attacks have been carried out in the south of Lebanon, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah has most of its operations, or Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Monday’s attack in the Kola district appeared to be the first strike within Beirut’s city limits. Syrians living in southern Lebanon who had fled Israeli bombardment had been sleeping under a bridge in the neighborhood for days, residents of the area said. 

The United States has urged a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Lebanon but has also authorised its military to reinforce in the region.

U.S. President Joe Biden, asked if an all-out war in the Middle East could be avoided, said “It has to be.” He said he will be talking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.