Nine killed in Israeli attack on Beirut apartment

At least nine people have been killed in an airstrike on a multi-storey building in a residential district in Beirut, the Lebanese health ministry has said.

Earlier, it had said six people were killed, a further 14 people were injured, with four still being treated in hospital.

This was followed by a statement by a Hezbollah-linked Islamic health organisation which said seven of its staff, including two medics, were killed in the attack.

The airstrike in the Bachoura district of the Lebanese capital targeted an apartment in a building that houses an office of the Health Society, a group of civilian first responders affiliated to Hezbollah.

It was close to Lebanon’s parliament and the United Nations headquarters – and followed the launch of dozens of missiles into Israel by Iran on Tuesday night.

It was the second airstrike to hit central Beirut this week and the second to directly target the Health Society in 24 hours.

Footage and images of the blast emerged as Israel’s military said it had killed 15 Hezbollah militants in south Lebanon today.

In a statement on Telegram, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the fighters were killed in a strike on a local authority building in Bint Jbeil – where it said the Iran-backed militant group was operating and storing large quantities of weapons.

IDF added that the Beirut bombing was a targeted and “precise” strike – after its forces suffered their deadliest day on the Lebanese front in a year of clashes with Hezbollah.

Sky news