Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds injured in Lebanon in Israel's largest spree of attacks during the current war.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said the Israeli strikes on Beirut were “unprecedented in number and intensity”. The Israeli military said it had carried out 100 bombings in 10 minutes.
The ministry told all drivers to make sure roads were clear for emergency services. Off-duty doctors were asked to come into work, while hospitals appealed for blood donations.
The Israeli attacks extended throughout Lebanon, including in several densely populated areas of Beirut that had not been previously targeted. They came only hours after a ceasefire between the US and Iran had raised hopes of peace in the region, only for Israel to claim it did not apply to Lebanon.
Israel's military called the wave of simultaneous attacks on Wednesday afternoon the largest strike on Hezbollah infrastructure since the war began in early March. It claimed to have “more than 100 Hezbollah command centres and military sites”.
In a sinister threat, the Israeli military claimed Hezbollah operatives were moving out of Beirut's southern suburbs to non-Shiite areas of the capital. It provided no evidence for the claim, which will be perceived as an attempt to stir up sectarian tension and justify attacks on new neighbourhoods.
Israel struck Beirut without warning. Powerful blasts rocked the heavily populated neighbourhoods of Barbour, Corniche Al Mazraa, Ain Al Mreisseh and Burj Abi Haidar. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the attack was “barbaric”.
“Today, the Israeli entity is once again intensifying its aggression, perpetrating a new massacre that is added to its infamous record, in flagrant defiance of all human values and utterly disregarding all efforts aimed at de-escalation and stability,” the presidency said.
The Israeli attacks came hours after the US and Iran announced a two-week ceasefire, as Israel stepped up its attacks on Lebanon in its pursuit of Hezbollah.
In the moments after the ceasefire was made public, Hezbollah said it would respect it even if Israel said Lebanon was not included.
The group’s leader, Naim Qassem, was expected to set out its official position in a speech taking into account Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comment that Lebanon is excluded from the two-week ceasefire.
However, this was before Israel's spree of attacks. Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel had inflicted the biggest concentrated blow to Hezbollah since a September 2024 operation that caused thousands of the group's pagers to explode.
Mr Netanyahu's office published a statement saying the temporary ceasefire agreed by the US and Iran does not apply to Lebanon.
