Watch: Building In Beirut Collapses In Its Own Footprint After Israeli Strike
A missile fired by an Israeli fighter jet has absolutely obliterated a residential building in Beirut’s southern suburb of Chiyah. The airstrike came amid a series of attacks on the area, shortly after Israel's military issued warnings and evacuation orders for residents of the building and of the area.
International media correspondents knew the strike was coming, and so were able to set up nearby and capture footage up-close, even including images of the missile flying through the air milliseconds before the strike. The building immediately collapsed in its own footprint.
The projectile may have been a bunker-busting munition, given the way the building collapsed onto itself, to the point of nothing being left.
The last several days have seen IDF warplanes bomb locations said to be sources of Hezbollah financing, including bank branches linked to the Shia organization.
But public hospitals have had their grounds struck as well. Israel's military has shocked many by proclaiming that Hezbollah hides money or gold beneath the medical facilities which have come under attack.
The UN has said it is "appalled" by an attack on Rafik Hariri University Hospital:
UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was “appalled” by a deadly Israeli strike nearly a southern Beirut hospital yesterday, demanding a “prompt and thorough investigation”.
“I am appalled by the Israeli strike near Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut’s densely populated Jinah neighborhood that reportedly killed at least 18 people, including four children, and wounded 60 others,” Turk said in a statement.
“The fundamental principles of international humanitarian law concerning the protection of civilians must be respected.”
Lebanon’s Health Ministry confirmed Tuesday at least 18 people were killed in that attack, including four children. Nearly 2,500 Lebanese total have been killed in Israeli attacks since the start of the conflict, both civilians and combatants alike.
The number of wounded from the same attack close to the Rafik Hariri University Hospital is at least 60, the ministry said. A staff member at the hospital, Dr Abu-Sittah, was outraged and had this to say:
"The size of the country is bigger but the tactic and centrality of the strategy are identical. To ethnically cleanse an area you need to dismantle the healthcare system in it. When you look at the south of Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs that’s what they’re doing."
In northern Israel, Hezbollah has continued sanding many drones on the key port city of Haifa. Alarms have been frequently sounding through the whole area.
The Israeli army has also belatedly confirmed the killing of Hezbollah Hashem Safieddine during a prior airstrike on Beirut earlier this month. He was widely expected to succeed Nasrallah as Secretary-General of Hezbollah.
In Gaza, fierce fighting has return to the north of the Strip. Hamas has issued a statement urging the global community "to stop the crime of forced displacement, ethnic cleansing and massacres" happening in northern Gaza.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is currently in Israel, seeking to discuss the potential for a ceasefire, but that prospect seems more distant than ever at this point.
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