Israel Intensifies Airstrikes on Southern Beirut Neighborhoods, Targets Lebanese Journalists
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Israel continues its airstrikes on residential areas in southern Beirut and expands its offensive to southern Lebanon, targeting journalists and killing more civilians, including children.
Israel escalated its military campaign against Lebanon on Thursday, striking residential areas in the southern suburbs of Beirut and killing more civilians, including children, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.
"Israeli warplanes launched a new strike a short while ago on the Choueifat area," the agency reported last night.
Footage from the scene showed thick smoke and flames rising from the targeted location.
Israeli forces issued warnings to residents ahead of the strikes, instructing them to evacuate areas in Choueifat and Haret Hreik. It issued additional evacuation orders for southern Beirut, announcing plans to attack two more neighborhoods.
"You are located near facilities and sites belonging to Hezbollah, which the Israeli [military] will be targeting in the near future," said Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army's Arabic-language spokesperson, on X (formerly Twitter), sharing maps of the designated areas.
The military claims its strikes target Hezbollah-related sites, though it has not provided evidence to support these assertions.
Lebanon's health ministry reported that three children were among 12 people killed in the latest Israeli strikes on two eastern Lebanese villages.
So far, around 3,600 civilians have been killed, with over 12,000 others injured, due to Israel’s ongoing airstrikes across Lebanon.
In a separate incident, Israel targeted a hotel housing journalists in Hasbaya, located in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh Governorate, according to Al Mayadeen.
Lebanon’s relief agency confirmed that three journalists were killed and several others injured in the airstrike.
Among the victims were Wissam Qassem, a cameraman for Al-Manar, and Ghassan Najjar and Mohammad Reza, both from Al Mayadeen.
This strike followed a series of air raids that hit the southern suburbs of Beirut earlier Thursday, with 13 separate strikes reported.
The most heavily targeted areas included Haret Hreik, Bourj al-Barajneh, Choueifat, and Hadath.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah reported intense clashes with Israeli forces near Aita al-Shaab, a town in southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese resistance group said its fighters engaged in “heavy clashes” at close range with Israeli troops.
Hezbollah also destroyed a Merkava tank sent to reinforce the Israeli soldiers and later hit another tank with a guided missile.
The Israeli military confirmed that four of its soldiers were killed and six others wounded in southern Lebanon, with three of the injured in serious condition.
