Israel’s devastating attack on Lebanon continues, killing at least 16 people in the capital, Beirut, and southern Lebanon, a punishing front in the broader war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran.
An Israeli strike early Friday hit a car in Jnah, a coastal neighborhood in southwest Beirut, and killed one person, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said.
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An Israeli strike also hit an apartment in the Nabaa neighborhood, home to a large Armenian community, leaving it engulfed in flames, with no casualties immediately reported.
It was the first time this area was attacked in this conflict or during the 2024 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
A total of 687 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon in just under two weeks, including 98 children. More than 800,000 people have also been forcibly displaced by Israeli attacks.
Following the attacks, the Israeli military claimed that it had attacked a Hezbollah member in Beirut.
“They were going after Hezbollah cash reserves, which they said were in the basement of some of these buildings,” said Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett, reporting from the capital.
Both neighborhoods are far from Beirut’s southern suburbs, which the Israeli military has declared unsafe and issued threats of forced displacement, and which continues to attack daily.
Later on Friday, an Israeli drone hit a residential apartment building in Bourj Hammoud, a northeastern suburb of Beirut, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).
Shelling continues in south and east Lebanon
Israeli forces have also continued shelling southern Lebanon and other parts of the country, according to NNA.
Nine people, including five children, died in the city of Arki, near Sidon.
Three people also died in the city of Ain Ebel, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.
An Israeli strike also killed three people in Barish, in the Tire district.
Two people were killed and three seriously injured in an Israeli attack on an apartment in Bar Elias, in the Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon.
The agency reported that the attack had targeted an Islamic Group official, seriously injuring him and killing his two children.
Another Israeli strike killed a Lebanese woman from the southern Lebanese city of Abba.
Meanwhile, an Israeli strike in the Tayr Felsay area hit an ambulance.
The Israeli military also attacked the Zrarieh Bridge over the Litani River, claiming it was a key crossing used by Hezbollah.
Qatar on Friday morning strongly condemned the Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon, calling them a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”
Meanwhile, twelve independent UN human rights experts issued a joint statement condemning the “continued military attacks against Iran and Lebanon by the United States and Israel as flagrant violations of international law.”
Lebanese government faces pressure
According to Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, there appears to be an Israeli military strategy to exert maximum pressure in Lebanon, not only against Hezbollah but against the government.
“Over the past 24 hours, Israeli officials have had very harsh words for the Lebanese government,” Khodr said.
“Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said that if the government does not confront Hezbollah and stop its attacks, then we will control Lebanese territory. (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu has also said that the Lebanese government has been told they are playing with fire if they do not confront Hezbollah.”
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has repeatedly said the government is committed to reclaiming state sovereignty, and his cabinet banned Hezbollah’s military wing, he explained.
“But he says it is very difficult to enforce such measures during a war,” Khodr said.
Lebanon’s army chief Rodolphe Haykal has been criticized for claiming that if the army confronts Hezbollah, there is a possibility of a split along sectarian lines, he said.
“So Lebanon’s political leaders say they want to impose measures against Hezbollah, but the army is reluctant and cautious in doing so.”
Is Israel’s air defense system ‘racist in design’?
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that 80 people were injured after a rocket landed in the Galilee area.
Channel 12 reported that the missile hit a building in the town of Kiryat Tivon, near the city of Haifa, causing damage to the structure.
Meanwhile, more than 30 people were injured in an attack in the northern part of the country of Zarzir.
“These rockets that are sometimes being coordinated between Hezbollah and Iran are overwhelming the air defense systems,” said Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
Late Thursday, a barrage of rockets hit a Palestinian town in northern Israel, injuring dozens, “raising questions among Palestinians living inside Israel: Are the air defense systems racist in design?” Ibrahim said.
“Are they intended to protect the Israelis and leave the Palestinians unprotected? Of course, we cannot fail to mention that the air defense systems have been overwhelmed and at times have not been able to intercept Iranian missiles, as well as Hezbollah missiles,” he added.
