At least five dead in Israeli airstrike on central Beirut, Lebanon

At least five people were killed and eight injured in an Israeli airstrike on a building in central Beirut, Lebanese officials said.

The multi-story block in Bachoura housed a Hezbollah-affiliated health center that the Israeli military said was hit in a “precision strike.”

This is the first Israeli attack near the center of Beirut – just meters from the Lebanese Parliament. There were five more air strikes overnight against targets in the southern suburb of Dahieh.

This came after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) declared so eight soldiers had been killed The battle in southern Lebanon saw the first casualties since ground operations began against the Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah.

Hezbollah said it had destroyed Israeli tanks during the fighting and insisted it had enough men and ammunition to push back the forces.

Previously, the IDF announced that additional infantry and armored troops had joined the operation, which aims to dismantle so-called “terrorist infrastructure” in Lebanese border villages.

In recent overnight strikes, three explosions were heard in Dahieh, a southern suburb of the city – with a fourth closer to the center.

There were two more airstrikes in Dahieh after the IDF warned people living nearby that they were allegedly targeting Hezbollah facilities in the area of ​​the city considered its stronghold.

Before the overnight airstrikes, Lebanon's Health Ministry said 46 people had been killed and 85 injured in Israeli bombings in the past 24 hours, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants.

It also emerged that among the victims of the recent Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon was an American resident of the state of Michigan.

According to The Detroit News, Kamel Ahmad Jawad, 56, was in the country to care for his elderly mother.

His death was confirmed by a White House official, who said: “His death is a tragedy, as are the deaths of many civilians in Lebanon.”

Lebanese authorities say Hezbollah is weakened after two weeks of Israeli attacks and other attacks that killed more than 1,200 people and displaced about 1.2 million across Lebanon.

After nearly a year of cross-border hostilities sparked by the war in Gaza, Israel has gone on the offensive, saying it wants to ensure the safe return of residents of border areas displaced by Hezbollah attacks.

Hezbollah is a Shiite Islamist political, military and social organization that wields considerable power in Lebanon. It is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the USA, Great Britain and other countries.

Israeli troops encountered Hezbollah fighters for the first time on the second full day of their ground invasion of Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Wednesday that aircraft-supported soldiers had “eliminate terrorists and dismantled terrorist infrastructure through precision-guided munitions and close combat operations” in several southern Lebanese areas.

The IDF later announced that eight soldiers had been killed in combat. Most were commandos from the elite reconnaissance units Egoz and Golani.

Hezbollah said its fighters fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli commandos, killing and wounding dozens, during clashes early Wednesday in a border village.

It also said other troops had been attacked with explosives and gunfire on the outskirts of Kafr Kila and that three Israeli Merkava tanks had been destroyed by rockets near Maroun al-Ras.

Hezbollah has spent years building an infrastructure in southern Lebanon that includes extensive underground tunnels. There are also thousands of fighters who know the area well.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid tribute to the eight soldiers, saying they fell “in the midst of a tough war against the axis of evil in Iran that wants to destroy us.”

“That will not happen because we will stand together and win together with God’s help,” he added.

Israeli air defenses were also back in action, a day after they repelled the vast majority of the more than 180 ballistic missiles that Iran fired into Israel on Tuesday evening in retaliation for the Israeli airstrike in Beirut last Friday, in which Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah and another top Iranian commander were killed.

According to the IDF, more than 240 rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards northern Israel over the course of Wednesday.

Netanyahu insists the ground offensive in Lebanon will weaken Hezbollah's ability and push back its fighters, ultimately allowing some 60,000 Israelis to return to their homes near the border.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said this He did not support Israeli retaliation against Iranian nuclear facilities. He added that the US “will discuss with the Israelis what they will do in response to the Iranian bombardment.”