Hezbollah says Dahieh strike damaged dozens of buildings as Paris condemns attack
Health Minister Rakan Nassereldine said several people were wounded by flying glass during Israel’s latest bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs.
AFP photographers on Friday saw huge destruction as residents, some wearing masks, inspected the debris and damage to their homes.
A Hezbollah statement said a preliminary assessment showed nine buildings were completely destroyed and dozens of others damaged.
A woman in her 40s who lives near one of the strike sites said she fled on foot with her young children including a three-month-old baby.
"Thank God" the building was not destroyed, she told AFP after returning Friday morning to find the windows of her flat shattered.
South Beirut resident Fatima, 40, said "life goes on", adding that she and her two children were following the usual Eid traditions after fleeing the previous night.
France, part of a committee overseeing the ceasefire, condemned the strikes and urged all parties to respect the truce, noting that the monitoring mechanism "is there to help the parties deal with threats and prevent any escalation."
The French foreign ministry statement noted that "dismantling unauthorized military sites... falls as a priority to the Lebanese" Army with the support of United Nations peacekeepers.
Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar on Friday urged "all Lebanese political forces... to translate their statements of condemnation into concrete action," including diplomatic pressure.
Thursday's attacks on what the Israeli military said were underground Hezbollah drone factories came after an Israeli evacuation call on the eve of Eid al-Adha, a key Muslim religious festival, and sent huge numbers of residents of Beirut's southern suburbs fleeing.
It was the fourth and heaviest Israeli bombardment of the heavily populated area, known as a bastion of support for Hezbollah, in the six months since a ceasefire deal aimed at ending hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. The last attack was in late April.
The September-November war left Hezbollah massively weakened, with top commanders including longtime leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah killed and weapons caches incinerated.
Under the ceasefire, Lebanon should disarm Hezbollah, once reputed to be more heavily armed than the state.
Lebanon's army, which has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure under the truce, said the Israeli military's ongoing violations and "refusal to cooperate" with the ceasefire monitoring mechanism "could prompt the (Lebanese) military to freeze cooperation" on site inspections.
The Israeli military had said Hezbollah was "operating to increase production of UAVs (drones) for the next war" in "blatant violation" of the truce understandings.
Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah fighters were to withdraw north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border.
Israel was to withdraw troops from Lebanon but has kept them in five areas it deems "strategic" and still launches regular strikes on south Lebanon.
Source: Agence France Presse
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