‘This is terrorism’: Lebanese mayor rejects Israel’s claim that it hit weapons depot

Thick smoke continued to billow from attack site hours after the strike on Ghazieh in south Lebanon

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Thick smoke continued to billow on Tuesday from a destroyed building in Ghazieh, south Lebanon, where Israeli strikes sent a fireball soaring into the air late on Monday.

The warehouse’s structure was charred, mangled and still on fire hours after the strike, while at its centre sat a deep crater, as motor oil leaked down a muddy hill.

The attack marked an escalation in the conflict between the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israeli forces, who have been engaged in near-daily cross-border exchanges of fire since October 8.

The Israeli strikes on Ghazieh, on the outskirts of the city of Saida – around 60km from the border, were the third deepest into Lebanese territory since the fighting started.

Israel said it was targeting a Hezbollah arms depot in response to a drone attack on its territory, but residents and a Lebanese security official denied the claim.

A local official said the building contained generators and motor oil, in an area home to factories and industrial warehouses.

“This is terrorism. You can see it’s a compound that’s been here for 11 years. Everybody can go in and out. Everybody can see what’s inside,” Hassan Ghadar, the mayor of Ghazieh, told media from the burning compound.

“When you talk about terrorism, this is terrorism. This is the destruction of people’s businesses. This is terrorism, it is as simple as that,” he added.

The building’s owners say the damage will run into the millions of dollars.

Mohammed Khalifa said the area is “open for all people, every day people come here and see there is nothing”.

“It’s not a closed place. You have a lot of people working here. Nobody can tell you another story,” added Youssef Khalifa, Mohammed’s cousin.

The conflict in south Lebanon, which comes within the context of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, has seen the worst fighting between Hezbollah and Israel since their brutal month-long war in 2006.

More than 200 people have been killed in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters. The conflict has gradually increased in intensity, with strikes outside the normal fighting zone.

In January, Israel assassinated Hamas deputy Saleh Al Arouri in a Beirut suburb, the first time it had attacked the Lebanese capital since 2006.

Earlier this month, Israel struck a car in Jadra, north of Saida, in an apparent attempt to assassinate a Hamas official that instead killed a Hezbollah member and at least one civilian.

Last week, two sets of Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed 10 civilians and several Hezbollah fighters, including a commander in the group’s elite Radwan force.

Youssef Khalifa said there is concern in the area of Monday’s strike that the conflict is spreading from the border up to Saida and surrounding areas.