Israel Strikes Kill 182 in Beirut      04/09 06:16

   

   BEIRUT (AP) -- Israeli strikes hit busy commercial and residential areas in 
central Beirut without warning on Wednesday, hours after a ceasefire was 
announced in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Lebanon said at least 182 people 
were killed and hundreds were wounded, making it the deadliest day in the 
latest Israel-Hezbollah war.

   U.S. President Donald Trump told PBS News Hour that Lebanon was not included 
in the deal because of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group. When asked about 
Israel's latest strikes, he said, "That's a separate skirmish." Israel had said 
the agreement does not extend to its war with the Iran-backed Hezbollah, 
although Iran and mediator Pakistan said it does.

   The fleeting sense of relief among Lebanese after the ceasefire announcement 
turned into panic with what Israel's military called its largest coordinated 
strike in the current war, saying it had hit more than 100 Hezbollah targets 
within 10 minutes in Beirut, southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley.

   Black smoke towered over several parts of the seaside capital, where a huge 
number of people displaced by war have taken shelter. Explosions interrupted 
the honking of traffic on what had been a bustling, blue-sky afternoon. 
Ambulances raced toward open flames. Apartment buildings were struck.

   Associated Press journalists saw charred bodies in vehicles and on the 
ground at one of Beirut's busiest intersections in the central Corniche al 
Mazraa neighborhood, a mixed commercial and residential area. Using forklifts, 
rescue workers removed smoldering debris and sifted through ruins for survivors.

   There was no sign of Hezbollah launching strikes against Israel in the first 
couple of hours after the attacks.

   In response to the attacks on Lebanon, Iran later Wednesday said it was 
again halting the movement of oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, the 
country's state-run media reported.

   A deadly midday barrage

   Central Beirut has been targeted before, but not by so many strikes at once 
and in the middle of the day. Israel had rarely struck central Beirut since the 
outbreak of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war on March 2 but has regularly struck 
southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs.

   Lebanon's Minister of Social Affairs, Haneen Sayed, in an interview with The 
Associated Press condemned Israel's wide range of strikes, calling it a "very 
dangerous turning point."

   "These hits are now at the heart of Beirut ... Half of the sheltered 
(internally displaced people) are in Beirut in this area," she said, adding 
that she had just driven by areas hit.

   She said Lebanon's government is ready to enter into negotiations with 
Israel for an end to hostilities, an offer that the Lebanese president 
previously made. Israel has not responded. "There are calls and efforts being 
made as we speak," Sayed said.

   Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in a statement accused Israel of escalating at a 
moment when Lebanese officials were seeking to negotiate a solution, and of 
hitting civilian areas in "utter disregard for the principles of international 
law and international humanitarian law -- principles it has, in any case, never 
respected."

   Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called the Israeli attacks "barbaric." 
Lebanon's health ministry said that along with the 182 killed, at least 890 
people were wounded in the strikes. Altogether, 1,739 people have been killed 
and 5,873 wounded in Lebanon in just over five weeks since the outbreak of the 
war.

   Israel's military said it had targeted missile launchers, command centers 
and intelligence infrastructure. It accused Hezbollah fighters of trying to 
"blend into" non-Shiite Muslim areas beyond their traditional strongholds.

   Residents and local officials denied that the buildings hit were military 
sites.

   "Look at these crimes," said Mohammed Balouza, a member of Beirut's 
municipal council, at the scene of a strike in Corniche al Mazraa. An apartment 
building behind a popular shop selling nuts and dried fruit had been hit. "This 
is a residential area. There is nothing (military) here."

   An Israeli warning and a defiant Hezbollah

   As the smoke rose Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned 
Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem that "his turn will come." In 2024, Israel killed 
Hezbollah's previous leader, Hassan Nasrallah, with an airstrike.

   Katz called Wednesday's strikes the largest blow against Hezbollah since the 
attack that caused pagers used by hundreds of its members to explode almost 
simultaneously in September 2024.

   Before the new strikes, a Hezbollah official told the AP that the group was 
giving a chance for mediators to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon, but "we have 
not announced our adherence to the ceasefire since the Israelis are not 
adhering to it." He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not 
authorized to comment publicly.

   The Hezbollah official said the group will not accept a return to the 
pre-March 2 status quo, when Israel carried out near-daily strikes in Lebanon 
despite a ceasefire being nominally in place since the last full-blown 
Israel-Hezbollah war ended in November 2024.

   "We will not accept for the Israelis to continue behaving as they did before 
this war with regards to attacks," he said.

   Hezbollah had fired missiles across the border days after the United States 
and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, sparking a regional war. Israel responded 
with widespread bombardment of Lebanon and a ground invasion.

   The Israeli military chief of staff, Lt Gen. Eyal Zamir, said the attacks 
are to protect Israel's northern residents, who have come under heavy fire.

   The Israeli military has said it has killed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters. 
More than 1 million people have been displaced in Lebanon.

   Early Wednesday, after the Iran ceasefire was announced and before Israel 
struck, many displaced people sleeping in tents on the streets of Beirut and 
the coastal city of Sidon had begun packing their belongings in preparation to 
return home.

   Families at a sprawling displacement camp on Beirut's waterfront later 
expressed confusion and despair.

   "We can't take this anymore, sleeping in a tent, not showering, the 
uncertainty," said Fadi Zaydan, 35. He and his parents had prepared to head 
back to the southern city of Nabatieh. Instead, they decided to wait things out 
in Sidon, a bit closer to home.