Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes yesterday that the military said had targeted militant ‘infrastructure’ in Lebanon’s capital, as the US warned that Iran may target universities in the country as the Middle East war rages.
Israel has invaded southern Lebanon and pledged to raze all Lebanese villages in the border area in a fight against Iran-backed Hizbollah militants that has become the most violent spillover of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Israel also has frequently struck Beirut, particularly its Hizbollah-controlled southern suburbs. Earlier yesterday, Israel’s military warned residents to leave seven neighbourhoods in the southern suburbs, warning of impending strikes.
Reuters reporters heard three loud blasts echoing across the city yesterday around sunset, a time when many Christians in the country were marking Good Friday despite the escalating hostilities. Lebanese media outlets said the strikes had hit the southern suburbs. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. Israel’s military said it was “striking terror infrastructure in Beirut”, without providing details.
Israel has pledged to occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River as part of a ‘security zone’ it says is aimed at protecting its own northern residents.
More than a million people have fled the area as well as other parts of the country. Families fleeing Israeli strikes said they were exhausted by repeated rounds of conflict.
Israel launched its campaign after Hizbollah fired into Israel on March 2 in solidarity with Iran after the US and Israel began joint strikes against Iran. The conflict has spread with Iranian strikes against Israel, US bases and Gulf states. Some 1,368 people have been killed in Israeli strikes and about a fifth of Lebanon’s population has been displaced. Sources told Reuters last week that more than 400 Hizbollah fighters had been killed since March 2.
Also yesterday, three peacekeepers with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon were injured, two seriously, in an explosion inside a UN position in south Lebanon near the border, UNIFIL’s spokesperson said, without blaming any party. Israel’s military said the explosion was caused by Hizbollah rocket fire from an area north of the UNIFIL position, near Al-Aadaissah along the border. There was no immediate comment from Hizbollah or authorities in Lebanon.
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