An airstrike hits a residential building in Beirut as Israel expands its attacks in Lebanon

JERUSALEM – The first apparent Israeli airstrike on central Beirut in nearly a year of conflict leveled an apartment building early Monday. This came after Israel attacked targets across Lebanon, killing dozens of people, while Hezbollah suffered major setbacks to its command structure, including the assassination of its leader Hassan Nasrallah.

According to an Associated Press journalist at the scene, the airstrike hit a multi-story residential building. Videos showed ambulances and a crowd gathering near the building in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood with a busy thoroughfare lined with shops.

A Palestinian left-wing faction in Lebanon said three of its members were killed in the airstrike. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said in a statement early Monday that its military and security commanders in Lebanon and a third member were killed in the attack.

The group has not played a significant role in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

A Lebanese Civil Defense official had earlier said that a member of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya was killed in the attack and 16 other people were injured, but the Sunni militant group, which fights alongside Hezbollah, has claimed the death of al -Jamaa al-Islamiya has not confirmed any of its members.

Also early Monday, another attack killed a commander of the militant group Hamas, which has a presence in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Hamas said Fatah Sharif and his family were killed in an airstrike on the Al-Buss refugee camp in the southern port city of Tyre.

Over the past week, Israel has frequently attacked Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence – including a major attack on Friday that killed Nasrallah – but has not hit sites near the city center.

Israeli officials had no immediate comment.

Hezbollah previously confirmed that Nabil Kaouk, the deputy chairman of its central council, was killed on Saturday. This makes him the seventh senior Hezbollah leader to be killed in Israeli strikes in just over a week. They include the group’s founding members, who had avoided murder or imprisonment for decades.

Hezbollah also confirmed that Ali Karaki, another senior commander, died in the attack that killed Nasrallah. Israel said at least 20 other Hezbollah fighters were killed, including one who was in charge of Nasrallah’s security forces.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health said at least 105 people were killed in airstrikes across the country on Sunday. Two attacks near the southern city of Sidon, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Beirut, killed at least 32 people, the ministry said. Separately, Israeli strikes in the northern province of Baalbek-Hermel killed 21 people and wounded at least 47.

Lebanese media reported dozens of attacks in the central, eastern and western Bekaa regions and the south, as well as attacks on Beirut. Israel says it is targeting militants, but the attacks hit buildings where civilians lived and the death toll was expected to rise.

In video of a strike in Sidon confirmed by the AP, a building swayed before collapsing as neighbors filmed. A television station urged viewers to pray for a family lying under the rubble and released images as rescuers were unable to reach them. Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that at least 14 medics were killed in two days in the south.

President Joe Biden said Sunday that he will speak soon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and believes an all-out war in the Middle East must be avoided. “It has to be this way,” Biden told reporters at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware as he boarded Air Force One bound for Washington.

Meanwhile, the rubble of Friday’s strike that killed Nasrallah still smouldered. Smoke rose above the rubble as people streamed to the site, some to see what remained of their homes, others to pay respects, pray or just to see the destruction.

In response to the dramatic escalation of Israeli attacks on Lebanon, Hezbollah has significantly increased its rocket attacks over the past week, from several dozen to several hundred daily, the Israeli military said. The attacks injured several people and caused damage, but most of the missiles and drones were intercepted by Israeli air defense systems or fell in open areas.

The army says its attacks have compromised Hezbollah’s capabilities and that the number of kills would have been much higher if Hezbollah had not been hit.

Israel attacks Houthi targets in Yemen

Also on Sunday, the Israeli military said dozens of its aircraft had struck Houthi targets in Yemen in response to a recent attack. The military said it attacked power plants and seaport facilities in the city of Hodeida.

The Houthis launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport on Saturday as Netanyahu arrived. The Houthi media office said the Israeli strikes hit the ports of Hodeida and Rass Issa, as well as two power plants in the city of Hodeida, a stronghold of the Iran-backed rebels. The Houthi-run health ministry said four people were killed and 40 others injured in the attacks.

According to Nasruddin Ammer, deputy director of the Houthi media office, the Houthis claimed they took precautions before the attacks and emptied oil stored in the ports. In a post on X, he said the strikes would not stop rebel attacks on shipping routes and Israel.

The US warns Hezbollah not to rebuild quickly

Meanwhile, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon had “wiped out” Hezbollah’s command structure, but warned that the group would work quickly to rebuild it.

“I think people are safer with him not running around,” Kirby said of Nasrallah. “But they will try to recover. We are watching what they do to fill this leadership vacuum. It’s going to be hard. … Much of their command structure has now been wiped out.”

Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Kirby sidestepped the question of whether the Biden administration was OK with how the Israelis are targeting Hezbollah leaders. The White House continues to call on Israel and Hezbollah to agree to a 21-day temporary ceasefire agreed by the United States, France and other countries during the U.N. General Assembly last week.

Air strikes drive thousands from their homes in Lebanon

A wave of Israeli airstrikes across swathes of Lebanon have killed more than 1,030 people – including 156 women and 87 children – in less than two weeks, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Hundreds of thousands of people were driven from their homes. The government estimates that about 250,000 people are in emergency shelters, with three to four times as many staying with friends or relatives or camping on the streets.

Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group and political party backed by Iran, Israel’s main regional rival, rose to regional prominence after fighting a devastating month-long war with Israel in 2006 that ended in a draw.

A veteran member of Hezbollah since the 1980s, Kaouk served as Hezbollah’s military commander in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel. The USA announced sanctions against him in 2020.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack from Gaza sparked the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies who consider themselves part of an Iran-backed “axis of resistance” against Israel.

The conflict has escalated and is verging on the brink of outright war, raising fears of a conflagration across the region.

Israel says it is committed to returning about 60,000 of its citizens to northern communities that were evacuated almost a year ago. Hezbollah has said it will only stop firing rockets if there is a ceasefire in Gaza, which has proven difficult despite months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.

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