Witness recounts moments Israeli airstrike hit Beirut amid escalating tensions with Hezbollah

(30 Jul 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beirut, Lebanon – 30 July 2024
1. Various of broken glass from Bahman hospital
2. Wide of ambulance and crowd in front of site of Israeli strike
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hassan Noureldine, witness:
“We were passing by here. I passed by here with my motorcycle and we went in the street and two mins later and we heard the sound of the explosion. There were two hits one after the other. But it wasn’t that strong but it was obvious that it was a drone strike not an airstrike.”
4. Wide of ambulance and crowd
5. Wide of ambulance
6. SOUNDBITE(Arabic) Taalal Hatoum, Amal Party representative +audio quality as incoming+
“The Israeli enemy targeted a residential building, they hit three floors. God willing it’ll be good. All the martyrs and all those injured, all the families of the Dahiyeh consider that the Israeli response that was expected at any moment. No the rules of the engagement will change now because this is the heart of the Dahiyeh.”
8. Close of damaged building
9. Wide of damaged building
10. Wide of crowd and hospital
11. Close of men standing

STORYLINE:
Israel carried out a rare strike Tuesday on Beirut that killed at least one person and wounded others, raising the stakes in the escalating tensions with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted the militant commander allegedly behind the deaths of 12 children and teens in a weekend rocket attack on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, as well as the deaths of numerous Israeli civilians hit in other strikes. 

Israel has blamed the rocket attack Saturday in the town of Majdal Shams on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has denied any role. "Hezbollah crossed a red line,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant posted on the platform X shortly after Tuesday’s strike.

The two sides have been exchanging near-daily strikes for the past 10 months against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, but had previously kept the conflict at a low level that would not escalate into full-on war.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that Tuesday’s strike, carried out with a drone that launched three rockets, killed one woman and wounded several other people, some of them seriously.

The wounded were taken to nearby hospitals.

Bahman Hospital near the site of the blast called on people to donate blood.

The last time Israel targeted Beirut was in January, when an airstrike killed a top Hamas official, Saleh Arouri. That strike was the first time Israel had hit Beirut since the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in the summer of 2006.

Israel had been expected to retaliate for the Majdal Shams strike, but diplomats had said in recent days that they expected the response to stay within the boundaries of the ongoing low-level conflict between Hezbollah and Israel without provoking all-out war.

AP video shot by: Mohammad Annouti, Fadi Al Tawil

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