November 23, 2024, 2:29 PM
November 23, 2024, 2:29 PM
At least 11 people were killed and another 63 were injured in the Israeli attack that hit an eight-story building in the center of Beirut early this Saturday (11/23/2024), according to the most recent balance provided by the Lebanese Ministry of Health. . Security sources reported that the target of the bombing was a senior Hezbollah official.
The Emergency Operations Center said that in the attack on the property in the Al Basta Al Fauqa area, 63 people were also injured. Through a statement, the entity reported that “a large number of body parts” have been found among the rubble, whose identity – as well as the final death toll – will be determined after carrying out DNA tests.
The rescue teams continue to comb the area while they continue the work of clearing debris from the place where “a deep crater was left after the use of bunker-buster bombs,” according to the local news agency ANI, which spoke of a “terrible massacre of the Israeli aviation that destroyed a residential building with five missiles.
“Senior Hezbollah official”
“The attack was so strong that we felt as if the building was going to collapse on top of us,” Samir, 60, who lives in a building opposite the one that was destroyed, told AFP. The man reveals that he left his home with his wife and some children. “We saw two dead people on the floor, the children began to cry and their mother cried too,” he added.
According to a Lebanese security source, the target of the attack on the eight-story building was a “senior Hezbollah official,” although he did not specify his identity. “It is not possible to know if he died,” he added.
The attack occurred at dawn, hours after Israeli planes carried out an intense offensive in the southern area of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold located near the capital’s international airport. The day before, Israel had already attacked this sector on several occasions, as well as the south and east of Lebanon, where the Shiite militia is also based, against which it entered into open war in September.