Israel launches seemingly rare attack on central Beirut as more attacks take place in Lebanon and Yemen | Lebanon

A Palestinian militant group said three of its leaders were killed in an Israeli strike on central Beirut early Monday. This would be the Israeli military's first attack on the center of the Lebanese capital since 2006, when it escalated hostilities against Iran's regional allies with further attacks in Lebanon and Yemen.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a militant group involved in the fight against Israel, said three senior figures were killed in the attack in Beirut. Initial footage from the crime scene showed two floors of a residential building completely destroyed, and onlookers running toward the building.

Two bodies could be seen lying in the street on a car in front of the building, seemingly thrown out by the force of the explosion. The sound of the explosion was heard throughout the city.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The attack in Beirut, carried out with a drone, occurred near the Kola intersection, a popular reference point in the city where taxis and buses congregate to pick up passengers, according to a source cited by Agence France-Presse.

Israel had limited its attacks on the Lebanese capital to its southern suburbs. The airstrike raised doubts about which areas of Beirut were still safe from Israel's increasing airstrikes. For most of Sunday, Israeli drones hovered over Beirut, and the loud explosions of new airstrikes echoed through the city.

Monday's airstrike came after Lebanon's Health Ministry said 105 people were killed and another 359 injured in Israeli strikes across the country on Sunday. More than 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and 6,000 injured in the past two weeks, it said, without saying how many of them were civilians. The government said a million people – a fifth of the population – had fled their homes.

On Sunday, Israel launched a wave of airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, stoking fears that a devastating regional conflict could erupt on multiple fronts.

The attack on the port of Hodeidah in Yemen involved dozens of Israeli aircraft and apparently targeted fuel facilities, power plants and docks in the ports of Ras Issa and Hodeidah. It was one of the largest operations of its kind ever in the region's nearly year-long crisis.

Houthi media reported four people were killed and 33 injured in the attacks. Residents said the strikes caused power outages in most parts of Hodeidah.

Israeli military officials said the raid was aimed at the Houthis, who have been firing on Israeli targets for months in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. The Houthis have also targeted international shipping in the Red Sea. On Saturday, they launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel's main international airport as Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, arrived.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah confirmed that Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of its 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. The group also confirmed that Ali Karaki, another senior commander, died in Friday's airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Following Nasrallah's murder, three days of mourning were declared starting Monday.

Hezbollah denied claims that Abu Ali Rida, the commander of the group's Bader unit in southern Lebanon, was killed. Rida is the last living commander of Hezbollah.

Israel has vowed to continue the attack and says it wants to make its northern areas safe again for residents who were forced to flee Hezbollah rocket attacks.

Asked whether an all-out war in the Middle East could be avoided, US President Joe Biden said: “It has to be.” He said he would speak to Netanyahu.

With Reuters