Lebanon: Three dead and 74 injured as a result of the Israeli raid near Beirut

Three civilians, a woman and two children, were killed as a result of the Israeli raid on Tuesday evening on the southern suburb of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, according to an “infinite” toll reported by the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

The ministry indicated in a statement that 74 people were injured, noting that "the search continues for missing people under the rubble." She explained that most of the injured received treatment and 65 were discharged from hospitals, while 9 still require continued treatment, noting that 5 of them are in critical condition.

The raid came three days after a missile strike that hit a football field in the town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, killing 12 boys and girls.

As soon as Israel raided the southern suburb of Beirut, Hezbollah’s stronghold, on Tuesday evening, dozens of angry young men gathered under the targeted building, amid dust and scattered glass as a result of the strike that targeted a prominent leader in the party.

In the street adjacent to the targeted building, dozens of cars were damaged, and shop windows were shattered by the blast of the explosion resulting from the raid, which Israel said targeted “the leader responsible for the killing of children in Majdal Shams and the killing of many other Israeli civilians.”

Anger spread throughout the crowded residential street in Haret Hreik, where young men gathered, chanting slogans loyal to Hezbollah and its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, such as “At your service, Nasrallah.” The party quickly surrounded the place, while ambulances moved back and forth to transport the wounded.

Two explosions in a row

Muhammad Allam (27 years old), who lives near the site of the attack, said, “I was in the house, and at about a quarter to eight I heard the sound of two successive explosions,” before he went out to the balcony and saw a rising cloud of smoke. He added, "We immediately left the house, but we were not able to reach the site of the strike after the place was cordoned off."
In nearby Bahman Hospital, Allam saw “crowding as people rushed to donate blood.” He said, "Many people were donating blood, and many were in the street."

Like others, the expected Israeli strike did not surprise Allam, who said, “There is anger in the street, but there is no fear. People expected the strike in the suburb, and now they are demanding a response.”

Following the missile strike on the town of Majdal Shams on Saturday, the Israeli army vowed to “strike the enemy forcefully,” although Hezbollah was quick to deny “any connection” to the attack.

The Israeli raid, according to what a source close to Hezbollah said, targeted the prominent military leader Fouad Shukr, “whose military name is Mohsen Shukr,” who is in charge of “commanding military operations in southern Lebanon” against Israel, and is considered one of the most prominent military advisors to the party’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah.

The Israeli military said late Tuesday that Israeli Air Force fighter jets killed Hezbollah's top military commander, Fouad Shukr, also known as "Mr. Mohsen," in the Beirut area.

Since the start of the escalation between Hezbollah and Israel against the backdrop of the war in Gaza since October 7, 2023, the southern suburb of Beirut, the party’s main stronghold, has remained safe from escalation, with the exception of a single strike attributed to Israel that killed it in January. ) with the leader of the Hamas movement, Saleh Al-Arouri, with six others.

The raid in Haret Hreik, according to what an Agence France-Presse photographer saw at the scene, targeted an apartment in the eighth floor of a residential building, which led to its major destruction and the injury of a number of the building’s residents. They were transferred successively to area hospitals, including the neighboring Bahman Hospital, where Dozens gathered.

An employee in the hospital's emergency department, who declined to give her name because she was not authorized to speak, said, "The hospital received a large number of wounded, some of them in serious conditions," without specifying their number, noting that a state of "chaos dominated the emergency room."

Since the outbreak of war in Gaza following the Hamas attack on October 7th in southern Israel, the Israeli army and Hezbollah have exchanged raids, missile shelling and marches on both sides of the border.

(agencies)