An Israeli strike around midnight Wednesday hit an apartment building housing the office of Hezbollah’s Health Institution in a residential area in the heart of Beirut.
A preliminary report of the health ministry indicated that six people were killed and 11 others wounded in the strike that hit the neighborhood of Bachoura.
It was the first time that Israel targets a Beirut neighborhood close to the city center.
The office of the Hezbollah health institution in was pulverized by a missile fired from an Israeli warship off the coast of the capital.
The whistle of the projectile was heard by residents in the western part of the city. At the same time, the Israeli air force carried out a raid on the southern suburbs of Beirut.
The targeted building also houses an old office of Hezbollah MP Amin Shirri.
In a statement, the Israeli army said it had carried out “targeted strikes” on Beirut, adding that it would provide details of the operation at a later date.
The strike on the densely-populated Bachoura was not preceded, as has been the custom in recent days, by an Israeli call to evacuate the area.