Israeli strike kills at least 6 in Beirut as foreign nationals evacuate

AP , Thursday 3 Oct 2024

At least six people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in Beirut overnight, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said, as governments around the world scrambled to evacuate their citizens from the country.

Men ride a motocycle past destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted Be
Men ride a motocycle past destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted Beirut's southern al-Jamous suburb, on October 3, 2024. AFP

 

Israel was pursuing a ground incursion into Lebanon against Hezbollah while conducting strikes in Gaza that killed dozens, including children. The Israeli military said eight soldiers have died in the conflict in southern Lebanon.

On Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting to address the spiralling conflict in the Middle East.

Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. said his country launched nearly 200 missiles at Israel on Tuesday as a deterrent to further Israeli violence, while his Israeli counterpart called the barrage an “unprecedented act of aggression.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed late Tuesday to retaliate, and an Iranian commander threatened wider strikes on infrastructure if Israel did so. U.S. President Biden said Wednesday that he would not support an Israeli attack targeting Iran’s nuclear program.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the Israeli war on Gaza that began on Oct. 7, 2023.

The Israeli war has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza, and over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.

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