A fireball rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in Beirut’s Bashoura neighbourhood on March 18, 2026. AFP
Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said a strike in the early hours of Wednesday hit an apartment in the central Zuqaq al-Blat neighbourhood, a densely populated area close to the government's headquarters and several embassies.
It said the strike occurred near where the Israeli military last week hit a Beirut branch of the Hezbollah-linked financial firm Al-Qard Al-Hassan.
In last week's strike, the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning in advance, but no such warning was given before the latest raid.
The NNA said two other strikes targeted two apartments in the central Basta district, another densely populated area that Israel struck during a 2024 war with Hezbollah.
An AFP correspondent saw first responders at the scene in Basta where the walls of apartments on two adjacent floors appeared to have been blasted off.
The NNA also reported strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold which Israel has pounded in recent weeks.
Moreover, the Israeli military said it had begun striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon including in the Tyre area, where the NNA reported at least four strikes including on a house.
Also early Wednesday, an Israeli strike hit a car in the centre of Sidon, southern Lebanon's largest city, state media reported.
An AFP correspondent at the scene said the strike hit near the city's civil defence headquarters and the seaside road, where many displaced people are sleeping in their cars.
According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli strikes have killed at least 912 people since March 2, while more than one million people have registered as displaced, with more than 130,000 staying in official shelters.
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