By Dave DeCamp / Antiwar.com
Israeli strikes hit two residential buildings in two separate neighborhoods in central Beirut on Thursday, killing at least 22 people and wounding 117.
According to Al Mayadeen, one strike hit the third floor of an eight-story building, and the other strike completely collapsed a four-story building. The death toll could rise as rescuers continue to search through the rubble.
The strike marks the third time Israel has targeted central Beirut since it escalated strikes on Lebanon in September. Most Israeli strikes in the capital city have focused on its southern suburb of Dahiyeh.
A Hezbollah source told Al Mayadeen that the strikes were an assassination attempt on Wafiq Safa, who heads Hezbollah’s Coordination and Liaison Unit, but he survived the attack. Reuters also reported that Safa eluded the assassination attempt.
The Israeli strikes hit a very densely populated part of Beirut, and a Lebanese security source told Reuters that among the dead was a family of eight, including three children, who evacuated southern Lebanon to flee Israeli airstrikes.
The Israeli strikes in central Beirut came two days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to turn Lebanon into Gaza if the Lebanese people did not “free” themselves from Hezbollah. Israel has also escalated its ground campaign in southern Lebanon, and its forces fired on UN peacekeepers, wounding two.
The US previously claimed that it wanted a ceasefire in Gaza but now openly supports the Israeli assault.
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Dave DeCamp
Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.
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