Israel kills 7 people in Beirut, Hezbollah fights invasion in south Lebanon

Al Jazeera:

At least seven people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs and a nearby town, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health, as Hezbollah continues to fight an Israeli ground invasion in the south of the country.

An Israeli raid hit Beirut’s Jnah area, killing at least five people and injuring 21, the ministry said on Wednesday. A separate strike late on Tuesday hit Khaldeh, just south of the capital, killing two people and injuring three.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) also reported a strike on Wednesday morning on the Hadath district in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which had largely been emptied of residents following repeated Israeli attacks and forced displacement orders.

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from the site of the strike in Jnah, said security sources referred to the incident as a targeted assassination aimed at vehicles, rather than an apartment block.

“It is not clear whether the attack targeted two cars or one,” Khodr said. “There were a lot of vehicles parked on the side of the road because there is a school nearby, where displaced people are taking shelter.”

The Israeli military said it had aimed to kill a senior Hezbollah commander, but the Lebanese armed group has not confirmed or denied the assassination.

“In fact, it hasn’t really been posting any death notices for quite some time,” Khodr added. “We only know about the death of some of its fighters from social media posts from their families.”