BEIRUT, March 18 (Reuters) – Israel launched an air strike on Wednesday in the Bachoura neighborhood of downtown Beirut, with the Israeli military warning residents to evacuate a building before the strike, followed by a loud explosion in the area, a Reuters witness said.
The attack was part of a wider Israeli campaign against Lebanon on Wednesday that included strikes in other parts of the Lebanese capital and in areas south and east of the country, marking an intensification of Israel’s campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said other Israeli attacks in Beirut earlier on Wednesday killed at least six people and wounded 24 others. Israel launched air strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon, killing at least 14 people, the state news agency reported, citing the Ministry of Health.
The Israeli military said on Wednesday it had begun attacking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.
The latest attack draws Lebanon further into the Middle East war after Hezbollah attacked Israel on March 2, saying it was seeking revenge for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader. Israel launched a counterattack that killed more than 800 people in Lebanon and forced more than 800,000 from their homes.
(Reporting by Leila Bassam and Enas Arashray; Editing by Jamie Freed, Kevin Buckland and Michael Perry)
