Smoke over Hezbollah headquarters… southern Beirut suburbs flare up again
Bombardments resumed in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut, in an attack that came a day after a series of strikes that followed an unprecedented evacuation warning.
On Friday morning, a new Israeli strike targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to the official National News Agency.
The agency reported: “Enemy warplanes carried out a strike on the southern suburbs.”
A live broadcast by Agence France-Presse showed plumes of smoke rising above a building in the southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah.
For its part, the Israeli army announced the start of a new wave of strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on the platform X: “The army has just launched another wave of strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs targeting terrorist Hezbollah infrastructure.”
As thousands of residents fled their homes following widespread Israeli evacuation warnings, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned on Friday of a “humanitarian catastrophe.”
Addressing ambassadors from Arab and foreign countries, Salam stated that “the consequences of this displacement, on both humanitarian and political levels, could be unprecedented,” warning of “an imminent humanitarian disaster.”
The war against Iran extended to Lebanon after Hezbollah launched a missile attack against Israel on Sunday night into Monday, describing it as “revenge” for the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during the attack launched on Tehran by the United States and Israel on Saturday.
Following the attack, Israel vowed that Hezbollah would pay a “heavy price,” then began launching airstrikes before sending its forces into southern Lebanon.
Sound of explosions
Several explosions were heard in Tel Aviv on Friday, according to journalists from Agence France-Presse, after the Israeli military announced it had detected missiles launched from Iran.
The army said: “A short while ago, the Israeli military detected missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. Defense systems are operating to intercept this threat.”
In Iran, an official announced that at least twenty people were killed in U.S.-Israeli missile strikes on the Shiraz region in the south of the country.
Agence France-Presse was unable to independently verify this casualty toll.
On Friday, the deputy governor of Fars province, Jalil Hosseini, said: “Twenty citizens were killed and thirty others were injured in this attack,” according to the official Irna news agency.
He indicated that the attack occurred in “a residential neighborhood in the city of Zibashahr” in the Shiraz region.
Irna had earlier reported on Telegram that “on Thursday evening, a park in the Zibashahr area of Shiraz was targeted by a U.S.-Israeli missile attack.”
It added: “According to rescue services, many citizens were killed and injured,” noting that “rescue and debris removal operations are still ongoing.”
