Deadly strikes devastate Beirut
Air raids kill hundreds and escalate regional tensions
Mangled vehicles and destroyed buildings littered Beirut after intense Israeli airstrikes struck multiple districts, witnesses and emergency services reported. Consecutive explosions sent smoke across the capital as rescuers searched rubble-strewn streets for survivors. Lebanon’s civil defence reported at least 254 fatalities and over 1,165 wounded from strikes that the Israeli military described as its largest coordinated operation, targeting more than 100 Hezbollah command centers and military sites in Beirut, the Beqaa Valley and southern Lebanon.
Israeli officials said operations in Lebanon are not covered by a newly announced U.S.–Iran ceasefire and vowed to continue strikes on Hezbollah; many attacks hit civilian-populated areas, and some alerts issued beforehand did not cover central Beirut. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned of a “regretful response,” framing any assault on Hezbollah as an attack on Iran and urging public mobilization, while Tehran threatened reprisals if strikes on Lebanon persist.
The bombardment flattened residential neighborhoods, burying families under rubble and overwhelming hospitals and emergency teams. The strikes marked a sharp escalation that risks widening the conflict and undermining fragile diplomatic efforts to halt hostilities, prompting international concern and calls for de‑escalation as the situation remains volatile.
