Jerusalem, Mar 9 (EFE).- The Israeli army bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday, targeting infrastructure linked to Hezbollah just hours after issuing evacuation warnings to residents of several densely populated neighborhoods.
“The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are now striking Hezbollah infrastructure in the Dahiyeh area of Beirut,” the military said in a statement, without providing further details.
A few hours earlier, the Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, had warned that the military would target facilities belonging to Al Qard Al Hasan, a financial entity linked to Hezbollah that provides interest-free loans and operates as a parallel banking network.
In his message, Adraee repeated the army’s evacuation order for residents of Dahiyeh, the group of southern suburbs of Beirut considered a stronghold of the Iran-backed Shia armed group Hezbollah.
The order, first issued last Thursday, focuses on four densely populated neighborhoods: the Palestinian refugee camp of Bourj el-Barajneh and Hadath, further south, as well as Haret Hreik and Chiyah.
The spokesperson also specified two evacuation routes for residents: one leading east for the southernmost neighborhoods and another heading north for those in Haret Hreik and Chiyah.
After the death of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, in the first attack of the war against Tehran, Hezbollah launched strikes on northern Israel, prompting an Israeli ground incursion and an air campaign targeting multiple locations across Lebanon.
The Israeli military campaign in the neighboring country has already forced 112,000 people into official shelters, although the total number displaced is estimated to be at least 200,000.
At least 394 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon, including 83 children, according to the country’s Ministry of Public Health. EFE ybp-sk
