Israeli airstrikes targeted a neighborhood in the heart of Lebanon’s capital late Monday evening, slamming into an area near the Parliament, several embassies and the U.N. headquarters, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least five people were killed and 24 wounded. An media reporter at the scene in Beirut described significant casualties on the street as ambulance sirens echoed through the area.
Since late September, Israel has dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon, vowing to cripple the militant group Hezbollah and end its barrages into Israel. Over the past year, more than 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli fire — 80% of them in the past month — Lebanon’s Health Ministry says.
The current wave of conflict gripping the Middle East began when the Palestinian militant group Hamas stormed from Gaza into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Hezbollah began firing into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas.
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed over 43,800 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. The officials do not distinguish between militants and civilians but say most of those killed are women and children. The fighting has left 77 people dead in Israel, including 31 soldiers.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted a Panama-flagged bulk carrier traveling through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, although no damage or injuries were reported, authorities said Monday.
The Houthis have targeted more than 90 merchant vessels with missiles and drones in the waterway — which typically sees $1 trillion in goods pass through it a year — over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon.
The bulk carrier Anadolu S first had been contacted over VHF radio by someone claiming to be authorities in Yemen, demanding the ship turn around, said the Joint Maritime Information Center, a multinational task force overseen by the U.S.
“The vessel did not comply with the order and continued its transit,” the center said.
The ship’s captain later saw that “a missile splashed in close proximity to the vessel” as it traveled in the southern Red Sea near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting to the Gulf of Aden in the first attack late Sunday night, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said in an alert. The attack happened some 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Yemen port city of Mocha.
On Monday, another attack some 70 miles (112 kilometers) southeast of Aden in the Gulf of Aden similarly saw a missile splash down close to the vessel, the UKMTO said.
The Houthis did not immediately claim the attacks. However, it can take the rebels hours or even days to acknowledge their assaults.
The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. The Joint Maritime Information Center said the Anadolu S had an “indirect association to Israel.” However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli medical officials say at least five people in central Israel have been wounded by shrapnel after a missile launched from Lebanon was intercepted.
The missile triggered air raid sirens in the Tel Aviv area before it was shot down. But authorities said shrapnel from the interception hit several people on the ground.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated five people for injuries. Victims were taken to Beilinson Hospital, where one woman was reported in serious condition.
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations suffered its worst loss of humanitarian aid in Gaza when desperately needed food was stolen from 98 out of 109 trucks over the weekend.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told said the U.N. doesn’t know who hijacked the trucks. “When armed people try to take control of a vehicle and goods, we’re not asking questions,” he told reporters Monday.
Only 11 trucks made it to a warehouse in the city of Deir al-Balah on Saturday, making this theft “the worst in terms of volume” during the 13-month war in Gaza, he said. As for the rest of the vehicles, he said, “we no longer have control of the trucks,” which suffered “severe damage.” He said the U.N. has no information about their drivers.
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