Israeli strikes killed 22 people in Beirut in the deadliest attack on the city centre since recent hostilities broke out, as the UN said its peacekeepers in Lebanon’s south were in growing danger.
The strikes hit a densely packed residential neighbourhood of apartment buildings and small shops in the heart of the Lebanese capital. Israel had not previously struck the area, which is removed from Beirut’s southern suburbs where Hezbollah’s headquarters have been repeatedly bombed over the past weeks.
Wafiq Safa, who heads Hezbollah’s liaison and coordination unit responsible for working with Lebanese security agencies, was reportedly the target of Thursday’s strikes, but survived, security sources told the Reuters news agency.
There was no immediate comment by Israel. The Israeli military issued a new evacuation warning on Thursday night for Beirut’s southern suburbs including specific buildings. Earlier in the day, Israel warned Lebanese civilians that to avoid the fighting they should not return to homes in the south.
The casualties in central Beirut on Thursday night rose quickly; the Lebanese health ministry reported 22 people killed and 117 wounded. Among the dead were a family of eight, including three children, who had evacuated from the south, according to a security source.
The deadly attack came as a UN official told the security council that the safety of more than 10,400 UN peacekeepers in Lebanon was “increasingly in jeopardy” and operations had virtually halted since late September, coinciding with Israel’s escalation against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The UN peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, said Unifil had decided to relocate about 300 peacekeepers to larger bases temporarily for their safety and that one contractor had already been killed.
His comments came after the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said Israeli forces had deliberately fired on its positions, injuring two peacekeepers. Unifil called attacks on peacekeepers “a grave violation of international humanitarian law”.
The White House said the US was deeply concerned by those reports and was pressing Israel for details. Israel’s military said its troops operated in the Naqoura area, “next to a Unifil base”. “Accordingly, the IDF instructed the UN forces in the area to remain in protected spaces, following which the forces opened fire in the area,” Israel’s statement said, adding it maintains routine communication with Unifil.
The peacekeepers were determined to remain at their posts despite Israeli attacks and orders by Israel’s military to leave, said the UN force’s spokesperson, Andrea Tenenti. Its 50 contributing countries had agreed on Thursday to keep deploying more than 10,000 peacekeepers between the Litani River in the north and the UN-recognised boundary between Lebanon and Israel known as the Blue Line in the south.
“We are there because the [UN] security council has asked us to be there. So we are staying until the situation becomes impossible for us to operate,” Tenenti said.
In New York, Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, said Israel recommends Unifil relocate 5km north “to avoid danger as fighting intensifies”.
The conflict in Lebanon erupted one year ago when Hezbollah opened fire in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war. It has intensified dramatically in recent weeks, with Israel bombing Beirut’s southern suburbs, the south and the Bekaa Valley, before sending in ground forces.
The Middle East remains on high alert for further escalation in the region, awaiting Israel’s response to an Iranian missile strike on 1 October.
With Reuters