Israel conducted a series of attacks in Beirut on Wednesday, prompting citizens to panic in the most devastating attack on the capital since the beginning of the conflict with Hezbollah.
The Israeli military claimed to have carried out its “largest coordinated strike across Lebanon.”
Israel has stressed that the two-week truce in its war with Iran does not extend to Lebanon.
According to AFP journalists, simultaneous strikes in the capital occurred without warning, leading people on the streets to run and vehicles to beep their horns in an effort to clear the way.
“I saw the blast; it was very strong, and there were children killed, some with their hands cut off,” Yasser Abdallah, who works in an appliance store in central Beirut, told AFP.
One of the strikes hit Corniche al-Mazraa, one of the main roads in the capital.
An AFP photographer witnessed significant destruction, including burning buildings and wrecked vehicles.
“A plane struck, and people started running left and right, and smoke was billowing” from the targeted building, said another witness, Ali Younes.
Israel also struck Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah rules, after issuing evacuation orders for these areas, in addition to strikes on the east.
