Beirut:
Lebanon said four people, including a child, were killed Monday in Israeli airstrikes near the country’s largest public hospital, near southern Beirut. State media reported about a dozen raids.
“The Israeli enemy attack near Hariri Hospital has so far killed four people, including a child, and injured 24,” the Health Ministry said, adding that it had caused “significant damage to the hospital.”
In a separate statement, the ministry said the strike affected the entrance to the hospital, “which is still in operation and receiving a large number of patients.”
It denied Israeli military claims that Hezbollah had stashed half a billion dollars under the Sahel Hospital in south Beirut.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported at least three Israeli attacks on the Ouzai district in southern Beirut.
While most neighborhoods of Beirut’s southern suburbs had been empty for almost a month, the densely populated residential area of Ouzai was still filled with people as it had never been targeted before.
– ‘No room to escape’ –
The NNA reported more than a dozen attacks on several districts in southern Beirut, including Haret Hreik, just south of Ouzai, and Hadath.
Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers told AFP they were searching for survivors amid the destruction in Ouzai, adding that the evacuation order and then strike “caused panic among residents” who “began running through the streets.”
“They left no room for people to escape. The strike came right after the warning,” one person said.
A Lebanese security official told AFP that the country’s national airline had to change runways after Israeli strikes near Beirut’s only international airport hit the main runway.
“Middle East Airlines changed the runway it was using because the main runway is close to the site of the Ouzai attack,” said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
AFPTV footage showed plumes of smoke rising from Beirut’s southern suburbs, with AFP correspondents also hearing several loud bangs before the strikes.
The footage also showed two strikes causing a massive fire, with black smoke surrounding the orange flames.
Just before the attacks, the Israeli army’s final appeal called on residents to leave parts of southern Beirut.
Military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted the new call on social media, indicating that several locations needed to be evacuated, including an area close to Beirut airport.
“You are near facilities and interests associated with Hezbollah that the IDF will act against in the near future,” he wrote.
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