Israel resumes Beirut strikes despite US ‘opposition’

Israel has resumed air strikes on Beirut despite objections from the United States over the way it is conducting its campaign in Lebanon.
Israeli military jets targeted the capital early on Wednesday for the first time since October 10. Three strikes were reported to have hit the southern suburbs of the city.
The attack came despite Washington having expressed concern over the scope of Israeli attacks on Beirut.
At the same time, the US continues to support Israel’s wars in Lebanon and Gaza, in which it says it aims to destroy Hezbollah and Hamas.
The Israeli military stated on social media that Wednesday’s strikes targeted “combat equipment that was stored inside an underground warehouse”.
A warning had been issued earlier that an attack on the Dahiyeh suburb was imminent, with residents warned to flee the vicinity of a building marked on a map.
According to Al Jazeera reporters in Beirut, three strikes were heard at about 6:50am in the Dahiyeh area. The number of casualties remains unclear.
Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Hasbaiyya to the south, suggested that the damage resulting from the strikes “doesn’t really suggest that it was an arms dump” that was hit.
Amnesty International and others have said that warnings from the Israeli military are often issued too late to allow people to escape and do not exonerate Israel from responsibility for civilian casualties.
The resumption of strikes on Beirut came shortly after a spokesperson for the US government expressed concern over the conduct of Israel’s military campaigns in Lebanon and Gaza, using stronger language than he had previously.
“When it comes to the scope and nature of the bombing campaign that we saw in Beirut over the past few weeks, it’s something that we made clear to the government of Israel we had concerns with and we were opposed to,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said late on Tuesday.
The US had previously expressed open criticism of Israeli air strikes that struck residential buildings in central Beirut on October 10, killing 22 people.
Al Jazeera’s Khan noted: “This has been a period of relative calm in the Lebanese capital … But after five days it’s now back to Beirut and a very serious attack against that southern suburb.”
The same day, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that US officials had provided assurances that Israel would reduce its attacks on the capital city, and that Washington was “serious about pressuring Israel to reach a ceasefire”.
It has also been reported that the US has threatened to withhold weapons deliveries unless more humanitarian aid reaches Gaza.
However, the US continues to send weapons worth billions of dollars to Israel, including a missile system and troops to operate it.
At least 1,350 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel escalated its attacks last month.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed the possibility of a ceasefire, insisting that would leave Iran-backed Hezbollah too close to Israel’s northern border and that a buffer zone is vital.
Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem said on Tuesday that a ceasefire is the only solution to the conflict, but also threatened to expand the scope of its missile strikes across Israel.
Early on Wednesday Israel’s military said about 50 projectiles were fired from Lebanon. No casualties have been reported.
Meanwhile, Israeli attacks continue across southern and eastern Lebanon.
At least five people were killed and 43 were wounded as missiles struck the town of Nabatieh, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Among those killed is the town’s mayor, Ahmad Kahi.
Al Jazeera’s Khan said rescue efforts in Nabatieh are still ongoing.
“We’re hearing from sources that Israel’s attack on the southern Lebanese town was on a regular civic meeting in the local municipality building,” Khan said. Attacks also targeted residential buildings around the area.
Meanwhile, another 15 people at least were reported to have been killed in the town of Qana.
Hezbollah said its fighters attacked a gathering of Israeli soldiers in Maskaf Am, near the border, with artillery shells. It also claimed an attack on the settlement of Karmiel with a barrage of rockets.