Israeli attack kills at least seven people in Beirut – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut killed seven Hezbollah civilian first responders. Israel has been attacking areas of the country where the militant group has a strong presence since late September, but has rarely struck the heart of the capital.

There was no warning before the strike late Wednesday, which hit an apartment in central Beirut not far from the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister's office and parliament. Hezbollah's civil defense unit said seven of its members were killed.

The attack came after at least eight Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where Israel announced the start of what it said was a limited ground campaign earlier this week. The region, meanwhile, was preparing for an Israeli retaliation following an Iranian missile attack.

Residents reported a sulfur-like smell after the attack in Beirut, and Lebanon's state-run National News Agency accused Israel of using phosphorus bombs without providing evidence. Human rights groups have in the past accused Israel of using white phosphorus incendiary grenades on towns and villages in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hezbollah has an armed wing with tens of thousands of fighters, but also a political movement and a network of charities with civilians.

In a separate development, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they fired two drones into Tel Aviv overnight. The military said it identified two drones off the coast of the busy metropolitan area and shot down one while the other crashed in the Mediterranean.

Escalating violence in Lebanon has opened a second front in the war between Israel and Iran-backed militants that began nearly a year ago with Hamas's surprise attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7.

The Israeli military said Thursday that it killed a senior Hamas leader in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip about three months ago. It said Rawhi Mushtaha and two other Hamas commanders were killed in an attack on an underground compound in northern Gaza.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas. Mushtaha was a close confidant of Yahya Sinwar, the top Hamas leader who planned the October 7 attack. Sinwar is believed to be alive and hiding in the Gaza Strip.

In recent weeks, Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and several of his top commanders. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, hundreds of additional airstrikes on large parts of Lebanon have killed at least 1,276 people since mid-September.

The Israeli military said Thursday it had struck around 200 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including weapons depots and observation posts. It said at least 15 Hezbollah fighters were killed in the attacks. There was no independent confirmation.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes as Israel warned people to evacuate about 50 villages and towns in the south and urged them to relocate to areas about 60 kilometers (36 miles) from the border and much further north a buffer zone declared by the United Nations.

After nearly a year of rocket attacks that began on October 8 and displaced around 60,000 Israelis from communities in the north, Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah. Israel carried out retaliatory strikes last year that displaced tens of thousands on the Lebanese side.

The vast majority of recent attacks have taken place in areas where Hezbollah has a large presence, including Beirut's southern suburbs known as Dahiyeh. But Israel has also carried out attacks on Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, and an attack in central Beirut earlier this week killed three Palestinian militants.

Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are part of the Iranian-led axis of resistance, which also includes armed groups in Syria and Iraq. They have launched attacks on Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians, retaliating in a cycle that has repeatedly threatened the threat of larger war.

After the Iranian missile attack on Tuesday, the region appears to be on the brink of such a conflict again. It was widely said to be in response to the assassinations of Nasrallah, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general who was with him, and Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political leader who died in an explosion in Tehran in July Israel was blamed.

Both Israel and the United States have said the rocket attack, which slightly injured two people and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, will have serious consequences. The United States has rushed military assets to the region in support of Israel.

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Jeffery reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Abby Sewell in Beirut and Zeina Karam in London contributed to this report.