Rescue workers on Friday continued to search for survivors after Israeli airstrikes rocked the heart of downtown Beirut overnight, killing at least 22 people and reducing one of the Lebanese capital’s central intersections to a smoldering ruin.
A constant stream of smoke could be seen rising over the Beirut skyline after the strikes, which Lebanese officials said also wounded more than 100 people.
Sonic booms from Israeli fighter jets shook buildings on Friday morning, sending panicked residents scrambling to their balconies to see if Beirut had been hit once more amid a weekslong campaign of Israeli bombardment against the militant group Hezbollah. Asked about the strikes, the Israeli military said it could not confirm them.
Lebanon’s state-run news agency reported that one of the strikes had targeted the central Basta neighborhood, which is close to several Western embassies. The area is also near the site of a strike in the city center that killed nine rescue workers last week.
Residents who gathered at one of the damaged buildings, in the Nwarieh section of Basta, expressed shock that the largely Sunni neighborhood had been struck.
“Not in central Beirut, I could never imagine in central Beirut,” said Sawson Moussa, 50, as she looked at the damage. “I have no idea where to go. I no longer feel safe here at all.”
Lebanese news media outlets said the strike had targeted an eight-story building and a four-story building. Videos verified by The New York Times showed that one of the buildings had been destroyed and that adjacent buildings had been damaged.
Israel has been heavily bombing sites across Lebanon in recent weeks as part of a major offensive against Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group. Its military has struck inside Beirut several times as part of a campaign aimed at Hezbollah leaders.
Most of the strikes in Beirut have succeeded in killing their targets, including the longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and several of his close associates or presumed successors.
Also on Friday, Israeli forces fired on positions belonging to United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon for the second day in a row, injuring two of them, according to a U.N. official.
Israeli forces also fired on the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, known by its acronym, UNIFIL, in multiple locations in the country’s south on Thursday, wounding two peacekeepers and touching off international criticism.
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