Israel bombed central Beirut in the early hours of
Thursday, killing at least six people, after its forces suffered their
deadliest day on the Lebanese front in a year of clashes against Iran-backed
armed group Hezbollah.
Israel said it conducted a precise air strike on
Beirut. Reuters witnesses reported hearing a massive blast, and a security
source said it targeted a building in central Beirut's Bachoura neighbourhood
close to parliament, the nearest Israeli strikes have come to Lebanon's seat of
government.
At least six people were killed and seven wounded,
Lebanese health officials said. A photo being circulated on Lebanese WhatsApp
groups, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed a heavily damaged
building with its first floor on fire.
Three missiles also hit the southern suburb of
Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed last week, and loud
explosions were heard, Lebanese security officials said. The southern suburbs
came under more than a dozen Israeli strikes on Wednesday.
A day after Iran fired more than 180 missiles into
Israel, Israel said on Wednesday eight soldiers were killed in ground combat in
south Lebanon as its forces thrust into its northern neighbour.
The Israeli military said regular infantry and
armoured units joined its ground operations in Lebanon on Wednesday as Iran's
missile attack and Israel's promise of retaliation raised concerns that the
oil-producing Middle East could be caught up in a wider conflict.
Hezbollah said its fighters engaged Israeli forces
inside Lebanon. The movement reported ground clashes for the first time since
Israeli forces pushed over the border on Monday. Hezbollah said it had
destroyed three Israeli Merkava tanks with rockets near the border town of
Maroun El Ras.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a
condolence video, said: "We are at the height of a difficult war against
Iran's Axis of Evil, which wants to destroy us.
"This will not happen because we will stand
together and with God's help, we will win together," he said.
Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli air raids
killed at least 46 people in the south and centre of the country over the past
24 hours.
Iran said on Wednesday its missile volley - its
biggest ever assault on Israel - was over barring further provocation, but
Israel and the United States promised to hit back hard.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he would not support any
Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites in response to its ballistic missile
attack and urged Israel to act "proportionally" against its regional
arch-foe.
Biden joined a call with Group of Seven major power leaders
on Wednesday to coordinate a response, including new sanctions against Tehran,
the White House said.
G7 leaders voiced "strong concern" over the
Middle East crisis but said a diplomatic solution was still viable and a
region-wide conflict was in no one's interest, a statement said.
Hezbollah said it repelled Israeli forces near several
border towns and also fired rockets at military posts inside Israel.
The paramilitary group's media chief Mohammad Afif
said those battles were only "the first round" and that Hezbollah had
enough fighters, weapons and ammunition to push back Israel.
Israel's addition of infantry and armoured troops from
the 36th Division, including the Golani Brigade, the 188th Armoured Brigade and
6th Infantry Brigade, suggested that the operation might expand beyond limited
commando raids.
The military has said its incursion is largely aimed
at destroying tunnels and other infrastructure on the border and there were no
plans for a wider operation targeting the Lebanese capital Beirut to the north
or major cities in the south.
1.2 MILLION LEBANESE DISPLACED
Nevertheless, it issued new evacuation orders for
around two dozen towns along the southern border, instructing inhabitants to
head north of the Awali River, which flows east to west some 60 km (37 miles)
north of the Israeli frontier.
More than 1,900 people have been killed and over 9,000
wounded in Lebanon in almost a year of cross-border fighting, with most of the
deaths occurring in the past two weeks, according to Lebanese government
statistics.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that about
1.2 million Lebanese had been displaced by Israeli attacks.
Malika Joumaa, from Sudan, was forced to take shelter
in Saint Joseph's church in Beirut after being forced from her house near Sidon
in coastal south Lebanon with her husband and two children.
"It's good that the church offered its help. We
were going to stay in the streets; where would we have gone?"
Iran described Tuesday's missile assault as a response
to Israeli killings of militant leaders, including Nasrallah, attacks in
Lebanon against the group and Israel's war against Palestinian Hamas militants
in Gaza.
There were no casualties from the missile onslaught in
Israel, but one person was killed in the occupied West Bank.