Israel launches deadly airstrike in central Beirut as clashes with Hezbollah fighters continue

Video released early Thursday by a CNN affiliate in Beirut shows the aftermath of an overnight strike on Lebanon's capital.

Israel's military urged residents of over 20 towns in south Lebanon to evacuate their homes immediately on Thursday as it pressed on with an incursion after suffering its worst losses in a year of fighting the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.

The call for evacuations from southern towns included the provincial capital Nabatieh, suggesting another Israeli operation designed to further weaken Hezbollah is imminent.

Israel, which has been at war with Hamas in Gaza for almost a year, sent its troops into southern Lebanon after two weeks of intense airstrikes, escalating tensions in a conflict that risks drawing in the United States and Iran.

In Beirut's southern suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold, three explosions were heard on Thursday and several large plumes of smoke were rising after heavy Israeli strikes.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it detonated an improvised explosive device against Israeli forces infiltrating a southern Lebanese village.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden said he would not support any Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites in response to its ballistic missile attack. Jim Walsh, a senior research associate at the MIT’s Security Studies Program who was with the Iranian president last week, says it needs to ‘be tested’ whether Biden can be persuasive 30 days shy of an election.

'Another sleepless night in Beirut'

Overnight, Israel bombed central Beirut in an attack the Lebanese health ministry said killed nine people.

Reuters witnesses reported hearing a massive blast, which a security source said had targeted a building in the district of Bachoura a few hundred metres from parliament, the closest an Israeli strike has come to the central downtown district.

Israel said it had conducted a precise airstrike on the Lebanese capital. Reuters witnesses reported hearing a massive blast.

"Another sleepless night in Beirut. Counting the blasts shaking the city. No warning sirens. Not knowing what's next. Only that uncertainty lies ahead. Anxiety and fear are omnipresent," said UN special co-ordinator in Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert on X on Thursday.

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A Hezbollah-linked civil defence group said seven of its staff, including two medics, had been killed in the Beirut attack, which Israel said was a "precise" airstrike.

Israel also said it targeted a municipality building in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil killing 15 Hezbollah members, while more than a dozen Israeli missiles also hit the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed last week.

Nightclub used as a shelter

A day after Iran fired more than 180 missiles into Israel, Israel said on Wednesday eight soldiers were killed in ground combat in south Lebanon as its forces thrust into its northern neighbour.

Nearly 2,000 people have been killed, including 127 children, and 9,384 injured since the start of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon over the last year, the country's health minister Firass Abiad said on Thursday.

Most of the deaths occurred in the last two weeks.

WATCH l Israel suffers deadliest day of troop loss in months: 

Israel’s aggressive assaults against Hezbollah after killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah have weakened and disoriented the militant group, but it still holds much of its previous territory and remains capable of posing a serious military threat.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said about 1.2 million Lebanese had been displaced by Israeli attacks.

More than 300 of those displaced have taken shelter in a Beirut nightclub, once known for hosting glitzy parties, and its staff are now using their guest-list clipboards to register residents.

"We're trying to keep strong," said Gaelle Irani, who was formally in charge of guest relations, taking a brief break from finding people a corner to live in.

"It's just overwhelming. So overwhelming and sad. But just as this was a place for people to come enjoy themselves, it's now a place to shelter people, and we are doing everything we can to help and be there for them."

Houthis target Tel Aviv

Nasrallah's elimination dealt a major blow to Hezbollah, Iran's most powerful proxy. The leader had developed the group into Lebanon's most influential military and political force, with wide reach in the Middle East.

Hezbollah and Iran's other regional allies — Yemen's Houthis and armed groups in Iraq — have launched attacks in the region in support of Hamas in its war with Israel in Gaza.

WATCH l Hezbollah bloodied but unbowed, ex-Lebanese official says: 

Israelis are mourning eight soldiers killed in the Israel Defence Force’s ground operation against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Israeli officials and civilians are also assessing and cleaning up the damage from Iran’s missile barrage.

The Houthis, who have been firing missiles, sending armed drones and launching boats laden with explosives at commercial ships with ties to Israeli, U.S. and U.K. entities since last year, said they launched a successful attack on Israel's commercial capital Tel Aviv with drones. Israel said it intercepted a suspicious aerial target in the area of central Israel early on Thursday.

Western nations have drafted contingency plans to evacuate citizens from Lebanon after Tuesday's dramatic escalation, but none have launched a large-scale military evacuation yet, though some are chartering aircraft as Beirut's airport stays open.

Global Affairs Canada (GAC) is not offering what it terms "assisted departures," but it is helping Canadian citizens and their families by arranging seats on commercial flights out of Lebanon.

The flights out of Lebanon land in Istanbul, and Canadians who avail themselves are responsible for their own airfare and subsequent arrangements for accommodation and travel.