BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli strikes hit several dense commercial and residential areas in central Beirut Wednesday afternoon without warning, hours after a ceasefire was announced in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Lebanon’s health ministry said dozens were killed and hundreds wounded in an early estimate.
Israel had said the agreement does not extend to its war with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, although mediator Pakistan said it does.
Israel’s military called it the largest coordinated strike in the current war, striking more than 100 Hezbollah targets within 10 minutes in Beirut, southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa valley.
Black smoke towered over several parts of the seaside capital. Explosions interrupted the honking of traffic on what had been a bustling, blue-sky afternoon. Ambulances raced toward open flames. Apartment buildings were struck. Emergency responders searched charred vehicles.
Several strikes were in busy commercial locations, causing panic in the streets. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that the airstrikes hit at least five different neighborhoods in Beirut’s central and coastal areas.
Lebanon’s Minister of Social Affairs, Haneed Sayed, in an interview with The Associated Press, condemned Israel’s wide range of strikes, calling it a “very dangerous turning point.”
“These hits are now at the heart of Beirut … Half of the sheltered (internally displaced persons) are in Beirut in this area,” she said, adding that she had just driven by the areas hit.
She said Lebanon’s government is ready to enter into negotiations with Israel for an end to hostilities, an offer that the president previously made. Israel has not responded.
“There are calls and efforts being made as we speak,” Sayed said.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in a statement, accused Israel of escalating at a moment when Lebanese officials were seeking to negotiate a solution, and of hitting civilian areas in “utter disregard for the principles of international law and international humanitarian law — principles it has, in any case, never respected.”
Israel’s military said it had targeted missile launchers, command centers and intelligence infrastructure and accused Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields.
“The State of Lebanon and its civilians must refuse Hezbollah’s entrenchment in civilian areas and its weapons build-up capabilities,” the military said in a statement.
Residents and local officials denied that the buildings hit were military sites.
“Look at these crimes,” said Mohammed Balouza, a member of Beirut’s municipal council, at the scene of a strike in the central Corniche al Mazraa neighborhood, a mixed commercial and residential area. An apartment building behind a popular shop selling nuts and dried fruit had been hit. “This is a residential area. There is nothing (military) here.”
Israel had rarely struck central Beirut since the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war on March 2 but has regularly struck southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Before the wave of new strikes, a Hezbollah official told the AP that the group was giving a chance for mediators to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon, but “we have not announced our adherence to the ceasefire since the Israelis are not adhering to it.” He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.
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The Hezbollah official said the group will not accept a return to the pre-March 2 status quo, when Israel carried out near-daily strikes in Lebanon despite a ceasefire being nominally in place since the last full-blown Israel-Hezbollah war ended in November 2024.
“We will not accept for the Israelis to continue behaving as they did before this war with regards to attacks,” he said. “We do not want this phase to continue.”
Hezbollah had fired missiles across the border days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, sparking a regional war. Israel responded with widespread bombardment of Lebanon and a ground invasion.
The Israeli military chief of staff on Wednesday said they will continue to “utilize every operational opportunity” to strike Hezbollah. Lt Gen. Eyal Zamir said it’s to protect Israel’s northern residents, who have come under heavy fire.
Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 1,530 people in Lebanon, including more than 100 women and 130 children. The Israeli military has said it has killed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters. More than one million people have been displaced in Lebanon.
Early Wednesday, after the ceasefire in Iran was announced, many displaced people sleeping in tents on the streets of Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon began packing their belongings in preparation to return to their homes.
That was before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed the military would press on in Lebanon.
At a sprawling displacement camp on Beirut’s waterfront, families whiplashed by the conflicting statements expressed confusion and despair.
We can’t take this anymore, sleeping in a tent, not showering, the uncertainty,” said Fadi Zaydan, 35. He and his parents had prepared to head back to the southern city of Nabatieh before Netanyahu’s comments stopped them in their tracks.
“But we’ll be targeted if we go home,” Zaydan said. His family decided to wait things out for now in Sidon, a bit closer to home.e
