Beirut explosion: Massive blasts rock Lebanon as Israel steps up attacks on Hezbollah

A series of massive blasts have rocked Beirut's southern suburbs, shaking buildings miles away in the Lebanese capital after Israel ordered people to leave some areas of the country

Beirut's southern suburbs were rocked by a series of massive explosions, with buildings trembling miles away in the heart of the Lebanese capital.

Late Thursday night, Lebanon's National News Agency reported a succession of over 10 air strikes pounding the region. Israel had earlier directed evacuation orders for towns and villages in southern Lebanon located north of a buffer zone declared by the United Nations following the 2006 war.

In line with its directive, Israel instructed evacuations from Nabatieh, a regional hub, among other locales situated above the Litani Riverthe boundary of the border territory imposed by the UN Security Council after the conflict 17 years ago; a resolution that both parties allege to have breached.

The World Health Organization confirmed the deaths of 28 health workers in Lebanon within the last day. Meanwhile, three dozen health facilities were being shuttered in the south, amid the partial or complete evacuation of five Beirut hospitals.

Israeli assaults on medical establishments and personnel oppose international norms and agreements, claimed Lebanese Health Ministry head Firas Abiad.

"This is a war crime, there is no doubt about that," Mr Abiad said. "International laws are clear in protecting these people - I mean, paramedics. Who gave Israel the right to be the judge and the executioner at the same time?".

The Lebanese Red Cross has reported that an Israeli strike left four of its paramedics injured and a Lebanese army soldier dead as they were evacuating casualties from the south. The convoy, which was accompanied by Lebanese troops and was near the village of Taybeh, was targeted on Thursday despite having coordinated its movements with UN peacekeepers.

This follows reports from Lebanon's health ministry stating that at least nine people were killed in an Israeli strike in central Beirut. The ministry is currently conducting DNA tests on remains to identify other victims.

Earlier, Hezbollah claimed that seven paramedics and rescue workers from its medical arm, the Islamic Health Committee, were killed in a strike that hit its office in Bashoura. The Health Ministry confirmed that 14 others were wounded in the early Thursday strike.

Before the attack, the ministry had reported that 55 people were killed and 156 others were injured in Israeli strikes over Lebanon on Wednesday. The recent strike was alarmingly close to the central district of Beirut, near the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister's office, and parliament.

It marked the second air strike to hit central Beirut this week and the second direct target on the Health Society within 24 hours. No warning was issued by Israel before the area was hit.

Residents reported a sulphur-like smell following the strike in Beirut, leading Lebanon's state-run National News Agency to accuse Israel of using phosphorous bombs, although no evidence has been provided.

Human rights watchdogs have previously accused Israel of deploying white phosphorus incendiary shells in southern Lebanese towns and villages.

While Hezbollah flaunts a potent armed wing bristling with thousands of combatants, it also cultivates a political faction alongside a web of civilian-run charities.

Focusing its aerial assaults largely on south and eastern Lebanon, as well as Beirut's southern suburbs known as Hezbollah strongholds, Israel's onslaught has nonetheless ravaged the entire nation, claiming numerous civilian lives.

Beirut's Hezbollah-dominated southern districts endured intense shelling under the cover of darkness, following Israel's earlier online warnings urging residents to flee.

Concurrently with its Lebanon ground offensive against Hezbollah, Israel also executed airstrikes in Gaza, resulting in many deaths, including children.

The Israeli Defence Forces confirmed the loss of eight soldiers in the hostilities situated in southern Lebanon.

In a stern warning to Israel, Iran's UN envoy announced that Iran had fired close to 200 missiles on Tuesday a direct response to halt further Israeli aggression. Contrarily, his Israeli counterpart condemned this missile deluge as an "unprecedented act of aggression".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands resolved to strike back while US President Joe Biden anticipates no immediate Israeli countermeasures to Iran, dispelling notions that America would endorse such a reprisal.

In a recent turn of events, after Iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, an official clarified: "First of all, we don't 'allow' Israel, we advise Israel. And nothing's going to happen today."

Japan has swiftly taken action by sending two Self Defence Force (SDF) planes towards Lebanon with the aim of possibly airlifting Japanese nationals out of the region.

These C-2 transport aircraft are scheduled to touch down in Jordan and Greece come Friday, as reported by Japan's NHK national television.

Previously, in October and November 2023, Japan deployed SDF aircraft to successfully evacuate over 100 individuals from Israel, a mix of Japanese and South Korean citizens.

Meanwhile, in Australia, Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced on Thursday that her country had secured 500 spots on commercial flights to aid Australians, along with permanent residents and their family members, to exit Lebanon by Saturday.

Offering these seats, which give an escape route to Cyprus from Beirut, caters to some 1,700 Australians known to be in Lebanon, as per Ms Wong.

Full of fleeing individuals, southern Turkey witnessed significant arrivals on Thursday. A ship brimming with more than 300 passengers set sail from Tripoli in Lebanon and reached a port in Mersin, situated on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, IHA, a Turkish news agency, confirmed.

The Med Lines ship, tasked with ferrying foreign nationals, was noted as the third such arrival at the port of Mersin in recent times by IHA. From there, passengers ventured onward to their respective homelands, continued the report by IHA.

The Israeli military announced on Thursday that it had targeted approximately 200 Hezbollah sites across Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and observation posts. They claimed the strikes resulted in at least 15 Hezbollah fighters losing their lives, although this has not been independently verified.

In a mass exodus, hundreds of thousands of individuals have abandoned their homes following Israel's warning to evacuate from around 50 southern villages and towns. The residents were instructed to move to areas approximately 60 kilometres (36 miles) from the border, significantly further north than a UN-declared buffer zone.

Since the day after Hamas's cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the death of 1,200 Israelis and the capture of 250 others, Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in almost daily fire exchanges across the Lebanon border.

In retaliation to the militant group's actions in the Gaza Strip, Israel declared war. Local health officials report that over 41,000 Palestinians have lost their lives in the territory, with just over half of the deceased being women and children.

In a separate incident, Houthi rebels in Yemen, backed by Iran, claimed they had launched two drones at Tel Aviv overnight.

The military reported identifying two drones off the coast of the bustling metropolitan area, managing to shoot one down while the other plummeted into the Mediterranean Sea.