Israeli airstrikes hit busy commercial and residential areas in central Beirut without warning on Wednesday, hours after a ceasefire was announced in the US-Israeli war with Iran.
A total of 254 people were killed and more than 1,100 injured across Lebanon, the country’s civil protection service said. The highest number was in Beirut, where 91 people were killed. The Ministry of Health released a death toll of 182 across the country and said it was not the final number. All in all, it was the worst day in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war.
US President Donald Trump told PBS NewsHour that Lebanon was not included in the deal because of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Asked about the latest Israeli attacks, he said: “That’s a different fight”.
Israel had said the deal did not extend to its war with Iran-backed Hezbollah, although Iran and the Pakistani negotiator said so.
A brief moment of calm among Lebanese after the cease-fire announcement turned to panic with what Israel’s military called its biggest coordinated strike of the current war, saying it had struck more than 100 Hezbollah targets within 10 minutes in Beirut, southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley.
