Smoke rose from Beirut’s southern suburbs Saturday morning and the streets were empty after the area was pummeled overnight by heavy Israeli airstrikes. Attacks on Hezbollah targets by fighter jets Friday continued into the early hours Saturday after the army said it told residents to evacuate three buildings it was targeting. Hours before the strikes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations , vowing that Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah would continue — further dimming hopes for an internationally backed cease-fire .
Netanyahu abruptly cut his United States visit short and returned to Israel. More than 720 people have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict escalated Monday, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. The United Nations says the number of those displaced by the conflict from southern Lebanon has more than doubled, with more than 211,000 people now displaced.
At least 20 primary health care centers have shut down in hard-hit areas of Lebanon, the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Hamas after it stormed into Israel, sparking the Israel-Hamas war . Top Israeli officials have threatened to repeat the destruction of Gaza in Lebanon if the Hezbollah fire continues, raising fears that Israel’s actions in Gaza since Oct. 7 would be repeated in Lebanon .
Here’s the latest: BEIRUT — Patients in hospitals in Beirut’s southern suburbs will b.