Lebanon says more than 55 killed in Israeli strikes

Lebanon has said Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 55 people, many of them in central Beirut, as Israel's defence minister vowed decisive action against Hezbollah, in a call with his US counterpart.

One strike in the heart of Beirut brought down a residential building and jolted residents across the city.

The strike on the working-class Basta neighbourhood killed at least 20 people and wounded 66, Lebanon's health ministry said in a revised toll.

"We saw two dead people on the ground... The children started crying and their mother cried even more," said Samir, 60, who lives in a building facing the one destroyed.

The attack in the capital was followed by others in the city's southern suburbs after calls by the Israeli military to evacuate.

Israel has not commented on the strike in central Beirut but said it had again hit Hezbollah targets in the city's southern suburbs, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group.

A military statement said that over the past week, the air force "struck dozens of Hezbollah command centres, weapons storage facilities, and terrorist infrastructure in the Dahieh area".

A Lebanese security source told AFP that the central Beirut strike had "targeted a leading Hezbollah figure", but a Hezbollah politician, Amin Sherri, denied to Lebanese media that any official was present at the time of the attack.

Similar strikes carried out without warning outside of Hezbollah's traditional bastions - which include southern Beirut but not the centre - have tended to target senior figures.

The health ministry said Israeli airstrikes also hit eastern Lebanon, killing 24 people including 13 in the town of Shmostar overlooking the Bekaa Valley, another Hezbollah stronghold.

In Lebanon's south, at least 14 were killed including five in the coastal city of Tyre, the ministry said.

US-Israel phone call

In a telephone call with Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz today, Washington's Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin "reiterated US commitment to a diplomatic resolution in Lebanon that allows Israeli and Lebanese civilians to return safely to their homes on both sides of the border", a Pentagon spokesperson said.

A spokesman for Mr Katz said he commended the US efforts towards "de-escalation in Lebanon" and underscored that Israel would "continue to act decisively in response to Hezbollah's attacks on civilian populations in Israel".

United States envoy Amos Hochstein was in Lebanon and Israel this week, meeting with both countries' senior officials, to try to negotiate an end to the war.

After talks in Beirut he said a deal was "within our grasp" but as he headed to Israel both sides put out statements that dented hopes of rapid progress.

After nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire, in which Lebanon's Hezbollah said it was acting in support of Hamas, Israel escalated air strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on 23 September.

A week later it sent in ground troops to southern Lebanon.

Read more about the conflict in the Middle East

A man whose family was hurt in the strike in central Beirut tried to comfort a traumatized woman outside a hospital. Car windows were shattered.

"There was dust and wrecked houses, people running and screaming, they were running, my wife is in hospital, my daughter is in hospital, my aunt is in the hospital," said the man, Nemir Zakariya, who held up a picture of his daughter.

"This is the little one, and my son also got hurt - this is my daughter, she is in the American University (of Beirut Medical Centre), this is what happened."

Separately, at least five people were killed and two wounded in an Israeli strike on Roum village in southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese state news agency.

Israel launched a major offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon in September, following nearly a year of cross-border hostilities ignited by the Gaza war, pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes and sending troops into the south.

Hezbollah denies it is using human shields

Israeli strikes killed at least 62 people and injured 111 in Lebanon on Thursday, bringing the toll since October 2023 to 3,645 dead and 15,355 injured, Lebanon's health ministry said.

The figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Hezbollah and the Lebanese government accuse Israel of indiscriminate bombing that kills civilians.

Israel denies the allegation and says it takes numerous steps to avoid the deaths of civilians and it accuses Hezbollah of using human shields.

Hezbollah denies the accusation.

Hezbollah strikes in the same period have killed more than 100 people in northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

They include more than 70 soldiers killed in strikes in northern Israel and the Golan Heights and in combat in southern Lebanon, according to Israel.

The conflict began when Hezbollah, Tehran's most important ally in the region, opened fire in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas after it launched the 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel.

A US mediator travelled to Lebanon and Israel this week in an effort to secure a ceasefire.

The envoy, Amos Hochstein, indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz.