Israel strikes central Beirut for 1st time since Oct. 8, killing 3 Palestinian leaders

By Moustafa Haboush

BEIRUT (AA) - Israeli forces launched early Monday an airstrike on Beirut’s Kola area, marking the first attack inside the Lebanese capital since the conflict with Hezbollah started last October.

According to an Anadolu correspondent, an Israeli drone targeted a fifth-floor apartment in a building on the road connecting Beirut with Rafik Hariri International Airport.

The strike sparked a fire in the apartment, which was brought under control by firefighters.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) later confirmed that the strike killed three of its leaders: Mohammed Abdel Aal, a political bureau member and head of the military and security division; Imad Ouda, the military commander in Lebanon, and Abdel Rahman Abdel Aal, whose position was not disclosed.

According to the daily Israel Hayom, the army said it carried out an attack in Beirut and struck Hezbollah targets in the Bekaa Valley, without providing further details.

In addition to the Beirut strike, Israeli warplanes renewed their attacks early Monday on Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut, southern Lebanon, and the Bekaa region, Anadolu reported.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israel also carried out an airstrike on the El-Buss refugee camp near Tyre in southern Lebanon for the first time. Hamas said Fateh Sharif, the group’s commander in Lebanon, as well as his wife, daughter and son were in the airstrike.

Israeli jets also bombed the Islamic Health Authority center in the Beqaa town of Sohmor, with ambulances rushing to evacuate the wounded, according to the NNA.

Overnight, Israeli warplanes hit the towns of Ebba and the area between Zebdine and Choukine in southern Lebanon.

The airstrikes coincided with the arrival of French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Beirut on Sunday evening for talks with Lebanese officials.

Late Sunday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that Israeli airstrikes in the southern districts of Tyre and Bint Jbeil killed 21 people and injured 125.

Since Sept. 23, Israel has launched its most intense and widespread assault on Lebanon since the clashes with Hezbollah began nearly a year ago.

The ongoing attacks have claimed at least 916 lives, including women and children, and injured 2,709 others, according to data from Lebanese authorities.

Fears of a broader regional war have intensified following Israel’s assassination of several Hezbollah leaders, most notably the group’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.

He was killed in an airstrike on Friday evening, during which Israel reportedly dropped 85 tons of bombs on a target in the Haret Hreik neighborhood, Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Beirut.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,600 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul