Airstrikes hit Beirut in first strike within city limits since war broke out
A still from a social media video show the aftermath of the airstrikes that hit Beirut in the early hours of Monday.
Airstrikes hit Beirut in the early hours of Monday morning, marking the first time strikes landed within the city limits of the Lebanese capital since the war started last October.
Videos geolocated by CNN show chaotic scenes on the streets of Beirut following the strike. The footage shows the strikes hit near Cola Bridge - a major intersection in the city.
CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment.
Some context: Until now Israel’s airstrikes on the Beirut have focused on the southern part of the city, the densely populated and predominantly Shia neighborhoods where Hezbollah have a stronghold.
PFLP announces deaths of three members in Kola strike
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine armed group named the three men as:
- Muhammad Abdel Aal, also known as Abu Ghazi, a member of the PFLP’s political bureau and the head of its military security department.
- Imad Odeh, also known as Abu Ziad, a member of the PFLP’s military department and a military commander in Lebanon.
- Abdul Rahman Abdel Aal, who it described only as a “comrade martyr hero”.
On Sunday evening, Israel hit the Kola area of Beirut in the first attack outside the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs since it began its bombing campaign last Monday.
No official death toll for the attack has been announced so far.
Biden says he'll speak with Netanyahu soon and that a wider war must be avoided
US President Joe Biden says he’ll speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu soon as tensions in the Middle East increase following Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
“Yes, I will be talking to him,” Biden said Sunday as he headed for the White House from Dover Air Force Base.
He added “we really have to avoid” all-out war in the Middle East, saying, “We’ve already taken precautions relative to our embassies and personnel who want to leave, but we’re not there yet. But we’re working like hell with the French and many others.”
Some background: Before Nasrallah’s killing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off a ceasefire proposal brokered by the United States and France that called for a 21-day pause in fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border, infuriating American officials who had been led to believe he was on board.
Israel informed the US it was launching its major operation in Beirut only after it was underway — again, to the frustration of some American officials.
Already at odds with Netanyahu over the nearly yearlong war in Gaza, Biden is now working to calm two fronts at a moment when his influence on Netanyahu’s decision-making appears to be at an all-time low.
Biden always says the same. Wider war must be avoided, yet every time it gets 'wider', he's fine with the escalation again...
It's fine when Israel escalates, Biden, Blinken and cohorts will rush in to discourage any retaliation.
Only Israel is allowed to defend itself.
