- 123 people killed, 683 injured – Lebanese authorities
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) early on Friday said their strikes are targeting what have been described as Hezbollah infrastructure in the Dahiya neighbourhood, a densely populated commercial and residential area in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Reuters’ reports and pictures showed smoke billowing around the affected areas, especially in Beirut, after Israeli strikes on the southern suburbs. Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon
The IDF had earlier issued forced evacuation orders for the whole population of Beirut’s southern suburbs, home to about 500,000 people, sparking widespread panic and leading to huge queues of traffic as people tried to flee.
It was gathered that the evacuation order was issued just a day after the IDF ordered all residents to flee the area south of the Litani River, which compromises about 10% of Lebanon, raising concerns that it may be about to launch a ground invasion.
Reports by Reuters’ correspondent indicated that, “traffic was at a standstill throughout the city and thousands of people resorted to walking, with women pushing strollers holding infants through bumper-to-bumper traffic. Families made appeals for rescue services to help extract elderly people who could not leave their homes on their own.”
Residents are also still scouring through the wreckage of residential buildings damaged by previous Israeli strikes on the Lebanese capital.
Indeed, Israel has been striking parts of Dahiya since Monday, but Israel’s far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, threatened widespread destruction in a video released on Thursday on social media.
Referring to a city in southern Gaza that Israel almost entirely destroyed during its military assault on the Palestinian territory, Smotrich said: “The Dahiya will look like Khan Younis. You wanted to give us hell, but you’ve brought hell upon yourself.”
Meanwhile, world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez have been urging Israel to de-escalate and stop the US and Israel’s war from expanding into a new front in Lebanon.
However, Israel claims it is retaliating after Hezbollah fired several rockets towards northern Israel on Monday.
According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, Israeli strikes have killed at least 123 people and injured 683 in Lebanon since then. – With The Guardian reports
