Israeli airstrike hits residential building in heart of Beirut

Powerful Israeli airstrikes targeted central Beirut on Saturday, shaking the Lebanese capital, killing at least 20 people and injuring 63 others, according to the civil defense.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said early on Saturday that the attack resulted in a large number of fatalities and injuries and destroyed an eight-story residential building in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood.  Footage broadcast by Lebanon’s Al-Jadeed station showed at least one destroyed building and several others badly damaged around it.

The blasts shook the capital around 4 a.m. (0600 GST), Reuters witnesses said. Security sources said at least four bombs were dropped in the attack. Israel used bunker-buster bombs in the strike, leaving a deep crater.

It marked the fourth Israeli airstrike this week targeting a central area of Beirut, where the bulk of Israel’s attacks have targeted the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs. On Sunday an Israeli airstrike killed a Hezbollah media official in the Ras Al-Nabaa district of central Beirut.

Israel launched a major offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon in September, following nearly a year of cross-border hostilities ignited by the Gaza war, pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes and sending troops into the south.

A US mediator traveled to Lebanon and Israel this week in an effort to secure a ceasefire. The envoy, Amos Hochstein, indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz.