IDF strike in Lebanon kills at least 13
Witnesses, Lebanese media say IAF jets resume attacks on Hizbullah stronghold in capital; Israeli warplanes also fire missiles on residential areas in Baalbek. IDF strike in south Lebanon village kills at least 13
Witnesses and Lebanese media said early Tuesday that Israeli warplanes renewed attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hizbullah stronghold.
The air strike caused a big explosion that reverberated across Beirut.
Black smoke billowed from the area, which has been repeatedly bombed since Israel launched a military offensive on Lebanon last Wednesday after the guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers.
The planes returned 15 minutes later and fired three more missiles on the deserted southern suburbs, devastated by almost daily Israeli air strikes in the past few days.
The new raid caused three major explosions that rang out in the neighborhood and shook the capital. Israeli warplanes also fired four missiles on residential areas in the city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley early Tuesday, witnesses said.
There was no word on casualties. Baalbek, targeted by Israeli warplanes in the past few days, is also a Hizbullah stronghold.
In their attacks on the southern suburbs, Israeli fighter-jets have targeted the teeming Haret Hreik neighborhood that formerly housed Hizbullah’s security compound, a sealed-off block of buildings where Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah had an office and residence and where the group’s Shura Council decision-making body was located.
The compound and adjacent buildings have been reduced to rubble by successive Israeli air strikes.
A Lebanese army source said Israeli warplanes attacked two army facilities near Beirut.
The source said there are casualties at the scene.
An earlier Israeli air strike killed at least 13 civilians in a southern Lebanon village, head of the village's municipality told Hizbullah's al-Manar television on Monday.
He said the raid hit a house in the village of Aitaroun near the town of Bint Jbeil.
"We are working with our bear hands and so far we have recovered six bodies. More are believed to be buried under the rubble," Salim Mourad said.
