At least six people have reportedly been killed and seven were injured in an Israeli attack on a health centre in central Beirut, said the Lebanese health ministry. On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to retaliate against Iran after it fired about 200 ballistic missiles at Israel.
Israel said it conducted a precise air strike on Beirut. According to local media, the witnesses reported hearing a massive blast, and a security source said it targeted a building in central Beirut’s Bachoura neighbourhood close to parliament, the nearest Israeli strikes have come to Lebanon’s seat of government.
Another local media reported, strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs were carried out for the first time using Israeli naval vessels. Iran fired ballistic missiles in retaliation to killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, amplifying tensions in the Middle East that are increasingly marked by “escalation after escalation,” as United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres put it.
