The Israeli army greatly intensified its bombings throughout Lebanon on Sunday, November 17, targeting twice the heart of the capital as well as its southern suburbs, and dozens of localities in the south of the country. A provisional report shows at least 22 deaths, including Hezbollah spokesperson Mohammad Afif and two Lebanese soldiers. More than 80 people were injured.
2 mins
With our correspondent in Beirut, Paul Khalifeh
Half of the Lebanonincluding its capital, was under Israeli bombs on Sunday, November 17. For the second time since the start of the open war with Hezbollah, on September 23, the Israeli air force carried out two raids in the heart of Beirut. The first killed the spokesperson for the Shiite party, Mohammad Afif, while he was at the Baath party headquarters, in a neighborhood located less than a kilometer from the French embassy.
A pile of ruins
The second strike targeted an electronics store, a car and an apartment in a residential area west of the capital. Israel says the target was a senior Hezbollah official, who for its part made no announcement about the bombing.
Israeli planes continued raids on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday, which had become a daily target for four days. The raids completely destroyed residential buildings in this region which is now nothing more than a pile of ruins.
Ground pressure
“ They bombed the Dahiye neighborhood maybe twenty times. They have been bombing at least fifteen times a day for a week. We hear everything and it makes life very hard. It’s hard to sleep, it’s hard to concentrate, but we know which neighborhoods to go to and which to avoid “, tells RFI Sary Raydan, a 17-year-old high school student who lives in the Christian neighborhood of Achrafieh.
The air force also bombed dozens of localities in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli army is increasing its ground pressure in an attempt to occupy the strategic town of Khyam, in the extreme southeast of Lebanon. A Lebanese army position was hit hard in the eastern sector of the border, where two soldiers were killed.
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