Iran Press/West Asia: Israeli warplanes have been launching “new and powerful” raids there, NNA said, shortly after it ordered residents of the area to evacuate their homes.
“Thick smoke and flames are rising in the suburb’s sky,” NNA said, adding that the raids have destroyed several residential buildings.
Residents in Beirut tell Al Jazeera that these are the loudest strikes heard in the capital yet.
Some media also reported that the Israeli army is targeting southern Lebanon with white phosphorous bombs.
At least 45 people have been killed in Lebanon’s Ain al-Delb in the south of the capital Beirut, raising the death toll in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours to 136, according to Lebanese authorities.
The death toll includes three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine group who were killed in the Kola area of Beirut in Israel’s first attack on the Lebanese capital beyond the southern suburbs.
The Lebanese group also said on Telegram that its fighters attacked movements of Israeli soldiers “in the orchards opposite the [Lebanese] towns of Odaisseh and Kfar Kila”.
The group said this attack achieved direct hits.
Statements from Israeli officials and leaks to media from US officials appear to point to an imminent Israeli ground operation in Lebanon.
Qatar's foreign affairs minister said that Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani held phone calls with Lebanon’s army chief Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
In separate calls, Sheikh Mohammed discussed the “latest developments in Lebanon and de-escalation efforts” with Aoun and Mikati.
During talks with Mikati, Sheikh Mohammed expressed Qatar’s “deep concern” over any further escalation and his country’s backing for the Lebanese state and its people.
Petra De Sutter, Belgium deputy PM calls for ‘maximum sanctions’ on Israel. “The planned ground invasion of Lebanon grossly violates international law. This is not self-defence, but provoking all-out war”, Petra De Sutter says on X.
'Israel' kills 45, injures 70 in Sidon massacre in South Lebanon
Hezbollah Fires Missiles Targeting Israeli-Occupied Territories
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