Twenty-four killed and dozens wounded in latest Israeli strikes on Lebanon

Beirut medical clinics attacked repeatedly, state media reports

Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs after an Israeli strike, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon. Reuters

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Israel resumed air strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs and areas near the capital on Wednesday afternoon, with at least six people confirmed killed in the village of Aramoun.

State media said 15 others were wounded in the attack on Aramoun, south of Beirut, where volunteers were searching the rubble for victims, including missing children. Multiple air strikes were reported across the capital's southern suburbs, including at least three missile strikes on Ghobeiry and Haret Hreik, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Huge plumes of smoke were seen across Beirut after the attacks, which followed an Israeli military eviction order telling residents to leave the area immediately. The army bombed a building next to a school in Ghobeiry, according to a notice shared by the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee.

The strikes came hours after least 16 people were killed and dozens more wounded in overnight attacks across the country. Eight women and four children were among 15 people killed in the southern village of Joun, while Israeli strikes on the Tyre district killed one person and wounded 24 others.

The Israeli air force launched a wave of attacks on Beirut's suburbs at dawn, targeting areas already hit on Tuesday afternoon. Multiple strikes were reported on the Dar Al Hawra Medical Centre in Haret Hreik, the National News Agency said, just hours after the Zein Medical Clinic in the same neighbourhood was hit. The Israeli army issued orders at 2am and 3am for residents of Haret Hreik and Ghobeiry to “immediately” leave the area.

The Israeli military said its air force had destroyed nine Hezbollah weapons storage facilities and command centres in strikes in the Beirut area.

Israel's eviction orders, also widely used by the army in Gaza, often leave no time for civilians to flee before air strikes begin. In other areas, no warning is given.

At least 3,287 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Lebanon since the outbreak of the Gaza war last year, with the majority killed since cross-border attacks between the Israeli military and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah escalated the fighting into all-out war in September.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah had fired 40 projectiles into Israel on Wednesday. Two Israelis were killed in the city of Nahariya, in northern Israel, on Tuesday by rockets fired from Lebanon. A Hezbollah drone landed at a nursery near the northern Israeli city of Haifa, but the children were inside a bomb shelter and there were no injuries.

Israel has said there will be no end to the fighting with Hezbollah until the objectives of the war with the Iran-backed group are met, namely to “destroy” its capabilities and allow Israelis displaced from the northern border to return to their homes.

“We will not make any ceasefires, we will not take our foot off the pedal, and we will not allow any arrangement that does not include the achievement of the war's objectives – and above all Israel's right to enforce and act on its own against any terrorist activity,” the country's new defence minister, Israel Katz, said during his first visit to the Northern Command with the Chief of Staff. “Terrorist infrastructure is collapsing in Beirut – we will continue to hurt Hezbollah everywhere.”

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, back in the country after the Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh to discuss the conflict, met Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aaty on Wednesday. The pair discussed efforts to reach a ceasefire, and Mr Mikati insisted any end to the conflict must adhere to UN Security Council resolution 1701 which ended a war between the sides in 2006. It demands that the areas of south Lebanon near the Israeli border be free of any weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.

Mr Abdel Aaty also spoke about Egypt's support for Lebanon, including airlifts from Beirut to Cairo. “This is not a gift from Egypt to Lebanon but a responsibility, as we are Lebanon's big sister,” he said in a statement shared by the National News Agency.

“We will not stop supporting Lebanon, especially in light of the internal displacement crisis, which is a grave injustice. Our efforts will continue alongside the US, European nations, Arab brothers and all international parties, including China and Russia, until there is an immediate ceasefire,” the Egyptian minister said.