Lebanon says 20 killed in Israeli strike south of Beirut. It was the second Israeli strike on Tuesday in a region outside the strongholds of Hezbollah.
An Israeli strike targeting a residential building in a town south of Beirut on Tuesday killed at least 20 people, Lebanon’s health ministry said. “The raid by the Israeli enemy on Barja left 20 dead,” the ministry said of the raid on the coastal town around 20km south of the capital, adding that rescue operations were underway.
The strike on Barja, which hit a multi-story apartment building on a hilltop, sheared off segments of the floors and exposed inner walls and staircases. Flames continued to emerge from the building on Tuesday evening, according to an AFP correspondent at the scene, as several families fled the site. It was the second Israeli strike on Tuesday in a region outside the strongholds of Hezbollah, the group targeted by Israel since September 23.
Earlier, a strike targeting another residential building in Jiyeh, near Barja, killed one person, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. A security source told AFP that an apartment used by Hezbollah was targeted. The ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces have resulted in more than 3,000 deaths in Israeli strikes on Lebanon over the last year, the vast majority of them in the past six weeks.
Lebanese rescuers scoured the rubble of the destroyed apartment building on Wednesday for bodies or any survivors. Moussa Zahran, who lived on one of the upper floors of the building, returned on Wednesday morning to sift through the ruins of his home. His burned feet were wrapped in gauze, and his son and wife were in hospital after being wounded in the strike. “These rocks that you see here weigh 100 kilos, they fell on a 13-kilo kid,” he said, referring to his son and the apartment wall that had collapsed onto him during the strike.
The Barja attack was among the deadliest single strikes in the recent escalation of violence. There was no evacuation warning ahead of the air raid. The Lebanese health ministry said just before midnight that the strike had killed 20 people and wounded 14, but the toll could still rise.
