UPDATE - Israeli airstrikes cripple 2 major hospitals in Beirut’s southern suburbs

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS, CHANGES DECK

By Wassim Seifeddine

BEIRUT (AA) - Two major hospitals in Beirut's southern suburbs are unable to provide service after Israeli forces conducted overnight airstrikes that severely damaged the facilities, a Lebanese medical source said Monday.

The source told Anadolu on the condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media that Saint Therese Hospital and Al Rassoul Al Azam Hospital were both rendered inoperable due to the Israeli airstrikes.

Al Rassoul Al Azam is one of the largest hospitals in the Lebanese capital, the source added.

A medical source later said that the two hospitals had resumed operations hours after being rendered out of service.

Israel has been conducting relentless airstrikes since Sept. 23 on what it claims Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, killing more than 1,200 and injuring over 3,400 others.

The aerial campaign was an escalation in a yearlong conflict between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Tel Aviv’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 42,000 victims, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack in October of last year.

Due to Israeli attacks on Lebanon, at least 2,036 people have since been killed, over 9,500 injured, and 1.2 million others displaced, according to Lebanese authorities.

Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching on Oct. 1 a ground invasion into southern Lebanon.