Israeli strike on central Beirut kills at least 22

At least 22 people were killed and 117 others were injured in an Israeli strike that hit a central neighborhood in the Lebanese capital on Thursday evening, an area that had not been previously hit, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

Senior Lebanese armed group Hezbollah figure Wafiq Safa survives an Israeli assassination attempt in Beirut on Thursday, three security sources told Reuters.

Earlier on Thursday, a Lebanese security source told Reuters that an Israeli strike on central Beirut targeted at least one senior official in Hezbollah.

State media said an Israeli strike hit the central area of Lebanon’s capital on Thursday, the third such attack on Beirut since Israel escalated its air campaign last month.

Israel has repeatedly pounded southern Beirut suburbs, what it calls the bastion of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, for more than two weeks but strikes have rarely hit in the city’s center.

“An enemy strike targeted the area of Ras al-Nabaa-Nweiri” residential neighborhoods, adding that ambulances rushed to the targeted sites.

An AFP journalist in Beirut heard three loud explosions.

A security official, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, told AFP that the strikes hit two locations in the area of Nweiri.

AFP live footage showed two plumes of smoke billowing in between densely-packed buildings where lights were still on in the windows.

Last month, Israeli bombing killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in south Beirut.