Following a new warning from the Israeli Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee to the residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs, specifically those in the buildings marked on two maps located in the Burj al-Brajneh neighborhood, five new waves of Israeli airstrikes targeted the area and its surroundings.
#عاجل ‼️ انذار عاجل إلى سكان الضاحية الجنوبية وتحديدًا المتواجدين في المباني المحددة في الخريطتيْن والواقعيْن في حي برج البراجنة
🔴أنتم متواجدون بالقرب من منشآت ومصالح تابعة لحزب الله وسيعمل ضدها جيش الدفاع على مدى الزمني القريب
🔴من أجل سلامتكم وسلامة أبناء عائلتكم عليكم… pic.twitter.com/zvYdvdeLBG— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) October 3, 2024
Previous to these raids, over six Israeli strikes targeted several neighborhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs early Thursday evening.
At 6:50 PM, an apartment in a residential building on al-Assad Street in Chiyah was reportedly hit by the Israeli army, causing a number of injuries, according to local daily Annahar.
Several local media outlets reported that “a missile was fired from an Israeli warship off the coast of the capital, rather than an air raid.” The specific target has not yet been disclosed.
Around the same time, a second strike, this one aerial, targeted the Ghobeiri area, causing damage near a Hezbollah-affiliated rescue center.
At 8:10 PM, two additional airstrikes hit the Hay al-Sellom neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Additionally, three more strikes targeted the Laylaki neighborhood, near Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport. According to local channel LBC, these three strikes were also launched from a warship.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that an Israeli strike targeted a warehouse near Beirut’s airport.
At 10.10 pm, another strike hit the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Israeli army had targeted Hezbollah’s media relations office, located near the Pearl Beirut Hotel on Mouawad Street, in the heart of Hezbollah’s stronghold. The building on Mouawad Street collapsed after being struck.
In a separate statement on X, Adree also announced that the Israeli army eliminated a senior official in Hezbollah’s precision missile project.
“At the beginning of the week, Israeli Air Force warplanes eliminated Mohammad Youssef Oneissi, a senior official in Hezbollah’s Directorate of Weapons Production, in the Beirut area,” he said.
He pointed out that “Oneissi was one of the key figures in Hezbollah’s precision missile production project in Lebanon; he had specialized expertise and technological capabilities in the production of combat weapons”.
“Oneissi joined Hezbollah over 15 years ago and became an expert in mechanical engineering, dedicating his skills to arming Hezbollah with strategic combat weapons,” Adree added.
Around midnight, loud explosions and plane sounds were heard in different areas, due to at least twenty Israeli missiles launched on Beirut’s southern suburb Laylaki.
According to Reuters, these last strikes were stronger than the ones that killed Hezbollah’s late leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Soon after, the Israeli Army precised it was targetting Hashem Safieddine. His fate is not yet known.
