At least eight people were killed in strikes in Beirut, according to Lebanon's health ministry, though Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported at least 10 killed and 27 injured. At Ramlet al-Baida on Beirut's Corniche, a large area was cordoned off as officials inspected the scene of a deadly strike, with unexploded ordnance reported, and there were no specific warnings about the strike at the seafront, where displaced people were sleeping in makeshift shelters. An Israeli strike destroyed a building in central Beirut, with the Israeli military issuing a warning to evacuate beforehand, saying it was a Hezbollah-affiliated facility, and there are no known casualties from that strike near downtown businesses and hotels. An Israeli airstrike brought down Mohammed Sukayneh's home in Beirut, killing 18 people including four children, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry, and the airstrike happened about 150 metres from the entrance to Rafik Hariri hospital. Six residential buildings were brought down in the Beirut airstrike, most three or four stories high, while Rafik Hariri hospital was struck by shrapnel but is functioning normally and will not be evacuated. Al Sahel private hospital was evacuated of 10 patients and 50 staff after Israeli claims it sat on top of a Hezbollah bunker.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military was instructed to prepare to broaden operations in Lebanon, and the Israeli military expanded a blanket evacuation order for southern Lebanon, nearly doubling the zone to cover almost the entire area south of the Zahrani river. Israel said Hezbollah's attack justified launching a broader campaign against the group, including air strikes and commando raids, until Hezbollah is disarmed, and Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah fighters, leaders, and businesses linked to financing its military operations. The Israeli military attacked ten Hezbollah headquarters in the Dahieh area, including intelligence and command centers, and the IDF says it is targeting executive council command centers and weapons storage depots in Beirut's southern suburbs, but Hezbollah claimed a bomb site was a popular local market. Al-Qard al-Hassan, a financial institution linked to Hezbollah, was targeted by Israeli airstrikes this week, and Israel called for evacuation in the Ghobeiry area of southern Beirut, warning of Hezbollah facilities. The Israel Defense Forces says it struck a 'Hezbollah terrorist target near the hospital' in Beirut, without providing information on the target, and the Israel Defense Forces says the hospital itself was not targeted or hit, while the Israeli military has said the southern suburbs of Beirut are a bastion for Hezbollah. Israel aims to secure the return home of tens of thousands evacuated from Israel's north due to Hezbollah rocket attacks.
They are hitting everything randomly.
Hezbollah launched the rocket barrage in an apparently coordinated attack with Iran, and Lebanon was pulled into the conflict when Hezbollah launched rockets and drones into Israel in retaliation for the assassination of Iran's supreme leader. On 2 March, Hezbollah fired missiles and drones into Israel for the first time in over a year, and Hezbollah carried out a 'preliminary defensive response' by attacking an Israeli military base in Kfar Chouba. Hezbollah said Israeli breaches of the truce include deadly air raids, shooting at civilians, and flying drones and jets in Lebanese airspace, and Hezbollah opened fire in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
At least 570 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon since the conflict began, according to Lebanese authorities, though the Lebanese health ministry says 912 people, including at least 111 children, have been killed since 2 March. More than a million people have been forced to leave their homes, mainly in the south, east, and southern Beirut, and some 700,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon, according to the United Nations, while hundreds of thousands have fled southern Lebanon, the Bekaa valley, and Beirut's southern suburbs after Israeli warnings.
Hezbollah said it launched a 'warning' strike because appeals to stop Israeli violations did not succeed.
The building hit in Bashoura neighbourhood had been targeted several times recently and was completely demolished, and no warning was reported ahead of earlier strikes in Zuqaq al Blat and Basta, which officials said killed 12 people and wounded 27. Beirut's southern suburbs (Dahiyeh) have been subjected to waves of airstrikes, making it too dangerous to access, and Hezbollah controls the southern suburbs of Beirut and enforces rules there. An Israeli strike hit an apartment block in central Beirut on Wednesday, marking the second strike in central Beirut in four days, and on Sunday, a hotel in the Raouche neighbourhood was targeted, with Israel saying it aimed at senior members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Quds Force. An Israeli airstrike brought down a building in the Chiyah area of Beirut's southern suburbs on 22 November, and Lebanon's National News Agency reported a 'heavy raid carried out by aircraft of the Israeli enemy' in the Ghobeiry area of southern Beirut.
Two Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat in Lebanon, according to the Israeli military, and the Israeli military began a wave of strikes after telling civilians in southern Lebanon to leave their homes immediately. Israel killed 11 people in separate attacks in Lebanon, including a State Security officer, and Israeli air strikes killed two people on Monday, and Hezbollah launched an attack in retaliation. Israel responded with air raids that killed at least nine people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, and the Lebanese Health Ministry said raids killed five people in Haris and four in Talloussah in south Lebanon. An Israeli rocket killed officer Mahdi Khreis in Nabatieh, according to Lebanon's State Security agency, and Israeli bombardment in Marjayoun killed another person, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. A drone attack in northeast Lebanon injured a Lebanese soldier, and the UN reported heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah in south Lebanon, while Israel sent ground forces into south Lebanon on 1 October as part of its offensive against Hezbollah.
Israel promised a 'harsh' response to the Hezbollah attack.
Israel struck the Mazzeh district of Damascus, targeting a military housing complex, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and 13 people, including civilians and Iran-backed fighters, were killed in the Damascus strike, according to the same source. Israel acknowledged the strikes in Damascus, saying it was targeting the Islamic Jihad group, and the official SANA news agency reported a deadly Israeli strike on the Mazzeh district on Thursday.
Some Lebanese Shiites are openly blaming Hezbollah for their current misery, unlike in the past.
Lebanon's State Security agency called the killing of officer Mahdi Khreis a 'blatant violation' of the ceasefire.
The U.S. has imposed sanctions on Al-Qard al-Hassan since 2007 and recently pressured Lebanon to shut it down.
Hamas is ready to reach a ceasefire in Gaza if a proposal is presented and respected by Israel, according to senior Hamas official Bassem Naim. Qatar suspended its role as a mediator in Gaza ceasefire talks but would resume when parties show willingness, according to Doha's foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari.
Whether Hezbollah's rocket barrage was directly coordinated with Iran is uncertain, as only one source mentions this alleged coordination. The specific military or strategic objectives of Israeli strikes in central Beirut, beyond targeting Hezbollah-affiliated facilities, have not been detailed by Israeli officials. The extent of civilian versus combatant casualties in Israeli strikes is not fully known, with sources providing varying totals but not detailed breakdowns.