UPDATES WITH ISRAELI CONFIRMATION, CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK
By Wassim Seif El Din
BEIRUT (AA) – The Israeli army's warplanes on Wednesday carried out at least three airstrikes on the southern suburb of Beirut, marking the first attacks on the Lebanese capital in days.
According to Lebanon’s official National News Agency, warplanes launched three successive airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburb, including an airstrike on the Haret Hreik neighborhood, and another on a building near a school.
No further details were provided on casualties or material damage.
The Israeli army confirmed striking Beirut’s southern suburb, claiming to have targeted a Hezbollah underground weapons storage depot there.
Late on Tuesday, the Israeli army carried out a series of violent airstrikes on several towns and regions in southern and eastern Lebanon, killing at least 23 people and injuring 31 others.
Israel has mounted a huge air campaign in Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing more than 1,500 people and displacing more than 1 million.
The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of its offensive on the Gaza Strip, in which Israel has killed nearly 42,400 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.
Israel expanded the conflict on Oct. 1 by launching an incursion into southern Lebanon.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar