On the eve of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, almost an hour after the Israeli army forced residents to leave areas that it claims contain underground Hezbollah facilities, an Israeli airstrike targeted southern Beirut suburbs.
Israel bombs Beirut for the fourth time since a Hezbollah ceasefire ended in November. It has ordered assassinations and launched strikes that it claimed targeted Hezbollah sites.
According to the Lebanese government led by President Joseph Aoun, Arab countries, and rights organizations, Israel has been violating the ceasefire for almost seven months. Recently, Aoun has urged the United States and France to oust Israel.
Aoun criticized the Israeli aggression and called it a flagrant violation of international law on the eve of a holy religious holiday in a statement released on Thursday following the strikes.
Prior to the attacks, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee had instructed people to flee the suburbs of Dahiyeh’s suburbs who lived close to buildings in the Hadath, Haret Hreik, and Burj al-Barajneh neighborhoods.
In a social media post with a map of the eight buildings being targeted in four different locations, Adraee wrote, “You are next to Hezbollah’s infrastructure.” Israel would soon bomb the area, according to the Arabic message.
According to Lebanese media, the area was almost completely deserted of its residents after the evacuation order. According to the reports, it was kept secret so that “warning strikes” could be heard.
Residents of the southern Lebanese village of Ain Qana were also advised to stay away from two buildings that appeared to be targeted by the Israeli military on Thursday night. East of Sidon, on the coast, is where Ain Qana is located.
“A lot of panic.”
In the immediate aftermath of the strikes, Beirut correspondent Zeina Khodr reported that “people were making their way out here. As you can see, this certainly caused a lot of anxiety. The army has carried out air strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs for the first time since a ceasefire ended in November, but this is the largest attack.
Up to eight buildings were targeted in four densely populated neighbourhoods, according to Khodr, adding that everyone in the area had to flee as a result of the airstrikes.
Given that Israel has been killing people for three, four months, Rami Khouri, an analyst, told Al Jazeera, “the attack was not a surprise.” After the ceasefire agreement, they have continued to occupy five locations in South Lebanon.
He claimed that the Israelis have always relied on military force to enslave their allies. The irony is that it hasn’t worked, though. We’ll have to wait and see what it means because Hezbollah suffered a hit last year, and they’re obviously regrouping, he said. They are regrouping, he continued, despite not knowing what exactly they were doing.
People rushed away after the evacuation warning, according to video that Al Jazeera’s Sanad agency verified.
حركة نزوح كثيفة من الضاحية الجنوبية لبيروت بعد تهديد الجيش الاسرائيلي pic. twitter.com/yuqA4giy4v
In “blatant violation of the agreements between Israel and Lebanon,” the Israeli military accused Hezbollah of producing drones there.
A Hezbollah official denied that the locations where drones were being produced had been in use.
The Israeli military “will work to stop any attempt to reestablish the terrorist organization Hezbollah” and “deter any threat to the State of Israel and its citizens,” the military said.
As Israel advises people to leave on the eve of a significant religious holiday, Khodr said, “If you talk to people here, what they will tell you is that this is terrorism.”
Nawaf Salam, the prime minister of Lebanon, also condemned the strikes. He demanded that Israel be prevented from “continuing its aggressions” and that it be required to formally withdraw from Lebanese territory.
Source: Aljazeera
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