Witnesses report the first Israeli airstrike in central Beirut in nearly a year of conflict

JERUSALEM (AP) — Witnesses reported Monday the first Israeli airstrike in central Beirut in nearly a year of conflict, hours after Israel struck targets across Lebanon, killing dozens of people as Hezbollah launched a series of deadly strikes on its command structure, including Hezbollah, suffered the assassination of its supreme leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The airstrike hit a multi-story residential building, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene. Videos showed ambulances and a crowd gathered beneath the building where the attack appeared to have targeted an apartment.

Over the past week, Israel has frequently attacked the southern suburbs of Beirut, where the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has a strong presence – including a major attack on Friday that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah – but had no locations near the hit the city center. The area where the strike took place is a predominantly Sunni neighborhood with a busy thoroughfare lined with shops and residential buildings.

There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials.

Hezbollah previously confirmed that Nabil Kaouk, the deputy chairman of the militant group's Central Council, was killed on Saturday. This makes him the seventh senior Hezbollah leader to be killed in Israeli strikes in just over a week. They include founding members who had avoided death or imprisonment for decades.

Hezbollah also confirmed that Ali Karaki, another senior commander, died in an airstrike on Friday that killed Nasrallah. Israel said at least 20 other Hezbollah fighters were killed, including one who was in charge of Nasrallah's security forces.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health previously documented at least 105 deaths in air strikes across the country on Sunday. Two attacks near the southern city of Sidon, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Beirut, killed at least 32 people, according to Lebanon's health ministry. Separately, Israeli strikes in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed 21 people and wounded at least 47. There were more attacks.

The Israeli military had previously said it had also carried out another targeted attack on Beirut, but did not immediately provide details.

Lebanese media reported dozens of attacks in the central, eastern and western Bekaa regions and the south, as well as attacks on Beirut. The attacks targeted buildings where civilians lived and the death toll was expected to rise.

In video of a strike in Sidon confirmed by The Associated Press, a building swayed before collapsing as neighbors filmed. A television station urged viewers to pray for a family lying under the rubble and released images as rescuers were unable to reach them. The Lebanese Health Ministry reported that at least 14 medics were killed in two days in the south.

President Joe Biden said Sunday he will speak soon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and believes an all-out war in the Middle East must be avoided.

“It has to be this way,” Biden told reporters at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware as he boarded Air Force One for Washington, but did not say when he would call the Israeli leader.

Meanwhile, the rubble of Friday's strike that killed Nasrallah still smouldered. AP journalists saw smoke rising above the rubble as people streamed to the site, some to see what remained of their homes, others to pay respects, pray or just to see the destruction.

In response to the dramatic escalation of Israeli attacks on Lebanon, Hezbollah has significantly increased its attacks over the past week, from several dozen to several hundred daily, the Israeli military said. The attacks injured several people and caused damage, but most of the missiles and drones were intercepted by Israeli air defense systems or hit open areas.

The army says its attacks have compromised Hezbollah's capabilities and that the number of kills would have been much higher if Hezbollah had not been hit.

Israel attacks Houthi targets in Yemen

Also on Sunday, the Israeli military said dozens of its aircraft had struck Houthi targets in Yemen in response to a recent attack on Israel. The military said it attacked power plants and seaport facilities in the city of Hodeida.

The Houthis launched a ballistic missile attack on Ben Gurion Airport on Saturday as Netanyahu arrived. The Houthi media office said the Israeli strikes hit the ports of Hodeida and Rass Issa, as well as two power plants in the city of Hodeida, a stronghold of the Iran-backed rebels. The Houthi-run health ministry said four people were killed and 40 others injured in the attacks.

According to Nasruddin Ammer, deputy director of the Houthi media office, the Houthis claimed they took precautionary measures before the strikes and emptied oil storage facilities at the ports. In a post on X, he said the strikes would not stop rebel attacks on shipping routes and Israel.

The US warns Hezbollah not to rebuild quickly

Meanwhile, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon had “wiped out” Hezbollah's command structure, but warned that the group would work quickly to rebuild it.

“I think people are safer with him not running around,” Kirby said of Nasrallah. “But they will try to recover. We are watching what they do to fill this leadership vacuum. It's going to be hard. … Much of their command structure has now been wiped out.”

Speaking on CNN's “State of the Union,” Kirby sidestepped the question of whether the Biden administration was OK with how the Israelis are targeting Hezbollah leaders. The White House continues to call on Israel and Hezbollah to agree to a 21-day temporary ceasefire agreed by the United States, France and other countries last week at the U.N. General Assembly meeting of world leaders.

Netanyahu expands his cabinet with a former rival

Netanyahu appointed a former rival, Gideon Saar, to his cabinet on Sunday. The move expands Netanyahu's ruling coalition and helps cement the Israeli leader in office.

As part of their agreement, Netanyahu said Saar would be given a place in the Security Cabinet, the body that oversees the management of the ongoing war.

Saar had hoped to replace Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, another of Netanyahu's rivals. But a deal to become defense minister fell through after fighting with Hezbollah intensified.

Air strikes drive thousands from their homes in Lebanon

Earlier this month, Hezbollah was also the target of a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies that was widely blamed on Israel. A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon have killed more than 1,030 people – including 156 women and 87 children – in less than two weeks, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes by recent attacks in Lebanon. The government estimates that around 250,000 people are staying in emergency accommodation, with three to four times as many staying with friends or relatives or camping on the streets.

Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group and political party backed by Iran, Israel's main regional rival, rose to regional prominence after fighting a devastating month-long war with Israel in 2006 that ended in a draw.

A veteran member of Hezbollah since the 1980s, Kaouk served as Hezbollah's military commander in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel. The USA announced sanctions against him in 2020.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack from Gaza sparked the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies who consider themselves part of an Iran-backed “axis of resistance” against Israel.

The conflict has escalated and is verging on the brink of full-scale war, raising fears of a conflagration across the region.

Israel says it is committed to returning about 60,000 of its citizens to northern communities that were evacuated almost a year ago. Hezbollah has said it will only stop firing rockets if there is a ceasefire in Gaza, which has proven difficult despite months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.

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Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press reporters Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Aamer Madhani in Washington, Samy Magdy in Cairo, Jack Jeffery in Jerusalem and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed.

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