Israeli Airstrike on Beirut: 4 Dead and 9 Injured Amid Rising Tensions with Hezbollah
The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced today, Sunday, that 4 people were killed and 9 injured as a result of an Israeli airstrike targeting an apartment in a hotel in the Ras Beirut area, while social media users and Lebanese news clips circulated images they claimed were of the airstrike that targeted the Ramada Hotel in the capital.
This airstrike comes hours after a special Israeli forces operation in eastern Lebanon, which included a series of airstrikes on a town considered a stronghold of Hezbollah, resulting in the deaths of 41 people and injuring around 40 others, but it did not achieve its goal of finding the remains of the missing Israeli pilot Ron Arad since 1986.
In the town of Nabi Sheet, which has turned into a war zone, a photographer from Agence France-Presse spotted a deep crater surrounded by destroyed houses, wrecked cars, and one building displaying an old image of Hezbollah leaders.
Residents of the town described the sounds of the explosions as "like action movies," amid intermittent clashes between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli forces.
The Israeli army clarified that its special forces conducted the operation to search for any evidence related to the missing pilot Arad, confirming that no injuries were reported among its personnel, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized Israel's continued commitment to tracking all its missing soldiers.
Israeli army chief Rudolf Heikel noted that the Israeli unit wore uniforms similar to those of the Lebanese army and used vehicles and ambulances resembling those of the Islamic Health Authority affiliated with Hezbollah.
For its part, Hezbollah confirmed that four Israeli helicopters infiltrated from the Syrian direction, and that the clashes escalated after the Israeli force was revealed, with around forty intensive airstrikes executed, during which the party's fighters launched rockets as the Israeli forces withdrew.
The Baalbek-Hermel area in eastern Lebanon, near the Syrian border, is one of Hezbollah's key strongholds.
Nabi Sheet's mayor, Hani Al-Mousawi, confirmed that the local community is "resistant" and that the Israeli bombardment caused significant damage to infrastructure and resulted in casualties.
The town's cemeteries also witnessed exhumation operations in search of Arad's remains, a sensitive issue for Israel, which has carried out similar operations in Lebanon over the decades.
Last month, Lebanese authorities accused four individuals of communicating with Mossad and being involved in the "kidnapping" of a retired Lebanese officer from the Shakir family.
The confrontations have also spread to southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, where Israel has launched widespread airstrikes and called for evacuations in areas, leading to the displacement of more than 450,000 Lebanese.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported nearly 300 deaths since the start of operations, including eight in the south of the country on Saturday alone.
These developments come amid rising regional tensions following Hezbollah's launch of rockets at Israel "in retaliation" for the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, following a U.S.-Israeli attack on Tehran.
