Heavy smoke rises during an Israeli airstrike that targeted Beirut's southern suburbs on November 23, 2024. Photo by AFP.
Beirut, Lebanon: An Israeli air strike in the heart of Beirut that brought down a residential building and jolted residents across the city killed at least 11 people on Saturday.
The attack in the capital was followed by others in the city's southern suburbs after orders by the Israeli military to leave the area.
Rescue operations were underway in the area on Saturday morning, with an excavator removing the rubble of the eight-storey building, and a fire truck and civil defence rescuers stationed nearby.
"The strike was so strong it felt like the building was about to fall on our heads," said Samir, 60, who lives in a building facing the one that was destroyed.
He said he fled his home in the middle of the night with his wife and children.
"We saw two dead people on the ground... The children started crying and their mother cried even more," he told AFP.
The Israeli air strike, which hit the working-class Basta neighbourhood, killed at least 11 people and wounded 63, according to Lebanon's health ministry, adding it had also left behind "a large amount of body parts that are being identified".
"The final death toll will be determined after DNA tests are carried out," the ministry said in a statement.
The Labanese National News Agency confirmed Israeli war planes had launched six missiles at the structure, causing "widespread destruction in buildings" nearby.
The predawn attack in Basta was not preceded by an evacuation warning from Israel's military.
Another strike hit the neighbourhood of Hadath in Beirut's southern suburbs.
The Israeli military said it had struck "several Hezbollah command centres" and other targets in the southern suburbs.
Israel stepped up its campaign against Lebanon in late September, targeting its strongholds in the east and south as well as south Beirut, and later sending in ground troops after nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire.
Lebanon's health ministry confirms at least 3,645 people have been killed since October 2023. Most of the deaths have been since September this year.
