According to local media, a hotel in Hasbaya, which is roughly 50 kilometers south of Beirut, was the target of Israeli airstrikes.
Separate Israeli airstrikes destroyed buildings in the southern suburbs of Beirut and killed three journalists in eastern Lebanon, according to Lebanese official media.
Israeli military planes hit near the Syrian border at 3:30 am (0030 GMT), according to the official National News Agency (NNA) of Lebanon. “Our correspondent in Zahle reported the death of three journalists in an Israeli raid on Hasbaya,” the NNA said.
A hotel in Hasbaya, about 50 kilometers south of the Lebanese capital, was struck by the airstrike, according to local media.
In the southern part of Beirut, in the Choueifat Al Amrousieh neighborhood, Israeli airplanes “destroyed two buildings and ignited a large fire, and black smoke covered the area,” NNA reported.
“The raid that targeted the Saint Therese area also caused the collapse of two buildings near the Constitutional Council.”
The raids on the southern part of Beirut were reported by NNA on Thursday, approximately 30 minutes after Israel warned residents to evacuate the Hezbollah stronghold due to heavy attacks the previous evening.
The Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, posted on X with maps of the places and stated, “You are located near facilities and sites belonging to Hezbollah, which the Israeli Defense Forces will be targeting in the near future.”
After the strikes, AFP correspondents in the capital heard loud bangs and saw plumes of smoke rising from the south of Beirut, according to AFPTV footage.
According to NNA, “Israeli warplanes launched a new strike a short while ago on the Choueifat” neighborhood of south Beirut. Hadath and Haret Hreik were subsequently mentioned as targets.
Israel’s army claimed to have struck Hezbollah weapons production facilities “under and inside civilian buildings” after Israeli attacks on Wednesday night destroyed six buildings in south Beirut, according to official media and AFP film.
After a year of limited cross-border confrontations with Iran-backed Hezbollah over the Gaza war, Israel declared ground incursions and began a fierce air assault in Lebanon on September 23.
An AFP analysis of Lebanese health ministry statistics since then shows that Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed at least 1,580 people, though the actual number is probably higher because of data gaps.
Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza in October 2023, the Committee to Protect Journalists has recorded the deaths of at least 128 journalists and media professionals in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and Lebanon.
