Israeli warplanes struck the very heart of Beirut for the first time since its incursion, shortly after midnight on Thursday, killing at least nine people in a crowded Sunni neighbourhood close to several embassies, government offices and the United Nations’ headquarters for Lebanon.
The attack destroyed the second-floor premises of a civilian health clinic operated by the Islamic Health Authority, which is funded by Hezbollah’s financial arm.
When The Globe and Mail arrived on the site on Thursday morning, the scene was one of chaos, with dozen mail order hash canada s of health and construction workers sifting through the rubble and police trying to keep the crowds away. Wrecked cars and scooters were being removed while concrete, glass and other debris were scraped off the streets and loaded into containers.
Kamal Znoud, general manager of the clinic said two to four Israeli missiles struck at about 20 minutes after midnight. “The was no warning from the Israelis before the attack,” he told The Globe. lemon drop strain “Normally they give us warnings before attacking.”
While early reports said that six e thechronfather mployees of the clinic had died, later raised to nine, he said seven were killed, plus three civilians, taking the total fatalities to 10. The Globe was not immediately able to confirm the number of casualties. “We don’t know why Israel would choose to hit us,” Mr. Znoud said. “We take care of anyone here, Sunni, Shia, Druze.”
The attack seemed to mark a new phase in the war, one that terrified residents of central Beirut. While Israel on Monday killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the attack was well outside the city centre proper. Previous attacks, including the one that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last Friday, were in the city’s southern suburbs.
Hassan Ibrahim, 45, an officer of the Lebanese Civil Defense, the public emergency service of Lebanon, lives close to the 12-storey building hit by the missiles. “When I heard the explosions, I was scared,” he said. “I ran out into the street to help people. There were lots of IDPs [Internally Displaced People] in the area and they came here because they thought they would be safe in the centre. They were not.”
The missiles hit in the bustling Bachoura area, directly across from a late 1800s Sunni cemetery that took some damage. Many of the windows of residential buildi the chron father ngs around the building that was attacked were shattered. The offices of the Prime Minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati, lay about 400 metres away from the explosion.
The attack on the medical centre was one of several on Thursday. A Lebanese Red Cross convoy accompanied by the Lebanese Army was hit while evacuating wounded from Taybeh, a border-village in Lebanon’s south.
Four Lebanese Red Cross volunteers were injured, the Lebanese Red Cross said. The Red Cross said it had co-ordinated its movements with UN peacekeepers on the border but were hit nonetheless. One Lebanese soldier was k the chron father illed and another wounded, the Lebanese Army said.
About the same time, Israel ordered more Lebanese residents to flee their homes, including from the city of Nabatieh, in southern Lebanon. In a message, the Israeli Defense Forces said “Hezbollah’s activities force the IDF to act against it forcefully.”