Israel carried out airstrikes in central Beirut for the first time since the latest conflict began, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
A Martinez, Host:
The US military says all six airmen aboard a refueling plane have died after it crashed in Iraq. A total of 13 American soldiers have died since the Iran war began. And Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth says today will bring more US strikes on Iran. In Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes hit central Beirut last night as part of a new offensive after Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel.
Steve Inskip, Host:
All in all, it was a couple of nights of some of the fiercest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of the war. Israel says it will not stop until Hezbollah is completely defeated.
MARTENEZ: NPR’s Hadeel al-Shalchi is in Beirut. Hadeel, what happened last night?
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: This is the third Israeli strike on central Beirut since the war in Iran began, but last night, it came with the first evacuation order for a part of central Beirut. The Israeli military told people within a 300-yard radius of the building in the Bachura (ph) neighborhood to leave the area. Now, that neighborhood is a dense residential and commercial area about a kilometer from where I am. It is very close to Prime Minister’s Office, UN building and some foreign embassies.
And, you know, since I arrived two weeks ago, there’s been this constant loud hum of Israeli drones, but it stopped last night around 5:30 local time. We heard fighter jets overhead, then a warning strike cry telling people that the real attacks were coming. Then we heard two big booms, explosions, one after the other. Black smoke rose over the Beirut skyline, and the targeted building was damaged but not destroyed.
MARTENEZ: Did Israel say anything about why it carried out the attack?
Al-Shalchi: So we know the Israeli military is targeting and killing Hezbollah operatives, we don’t know what was targeted in the building last night. But an official in the region, who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, told NPR that the Israeli strike in central Beirut was symbolic, sending a message that Israel would not tolerate Hezbollah’s fire much longer.
You know, Hezbollah rained heavy rockets on Israel on Wednesday night. The Israeli military estimated it contained 200 rockets. And Iran launched ballistic missiles at the same time. But the Israeli message is, look, we’re not attacking Lebanese civilian infrastructure like the electricity grid or the airport, as we’ve done in previous wars. So we are keeping the boundaries with these warning strikes.
Now, Lebanon and Israel, of course, have been at war for decades, have not had formal diplomatic relations, but the Lebanese president has recently called for direct talks with Israel to end this war and has repeatedly asked the international community to help build up its army to try to disarm Hezbollah, which is overwhelming this state. Israel has yet to comment publicly, but the official told us that Israel is seeing positive signs from the Lebanese government to crack down on Hezbollah. So it wouldn’t be too surprising if we see talks at some point.
Martinez: Right. Now, we are seeing how this war is displacing huge numbers of people in both Lebanon and Iran.
AL-SHALCHI: So in Lebanon, about a million people have been displaced from the suburbs of southern Lebanon and southern Beirut, both considered Hezbollah strongholds but densely populated by civilians. So Beirut is even more densely populated as a result, and some of those displaced from the south are being hammered back into central Beirut. The war has killed more than 700 people, according to Lebanese officials. And in Iran, the United Nations says some 3.2 million people have been displaced since the war began, most of them fleeing Tehran and other major urban areas to the north of the country for safety.
MARTENEZ: That’s NPR’s Hadeel Al-Shalchi in Beirut. Thanks for hanging in there and giving us this report.
Al-Shalchi: You are welcome.
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