Written by Maya Gebaili, Laila Bassam, and Mohamed Gebaili
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Palestinian Hamas movement said on Monday that three of its leaders were killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut, the first attack within the city’s borders as Israel escalates hostilities against Iran’s allies in the region.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said that the three leaders were killed in a raid that targeted the Al-Kula area in Beirut.
Reuters witnesses said that the strike hit the upper floor of a residential building in the Al-Kula neighborhood in the Lebanese capital.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army.
The increasing frequency of Israel’s attacks against the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and the Houthi militia in Yemen has raised fears that fighting in the Middle East could spiral out of control and draw in Iran and the United States, Israel’s main ally.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is another armed group participating in the fight against Israel.
Israel on Sunday launched air strikes on the Houthi militia in Yemen and dozens of Hezbollah targets across Lebanon after the Hezbollah leader was killed earlier.
The Houthi-run Health Ministry said at least four people were killed and 29 others wounded in air strikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah port, which Israel said were a response to Houthi missile attacks. In Lebanon, the authorities said that at least 105 people were killed in Israeli air strikes on Sunday.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health said that more than a thousand Lebanese were killed and six thousand injured in the past two weeks, without specifying the number of civilians. The government said that one million people, a fifth of the population, had fled their homes.
The intense Israeli bombing over two weeks led to the killing of a number of senior Hezbollah officials, including its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Israel pledged to continue the offensive and said it wanted to make its northern regions safe again for residents forced to flee Hezbollah missile attacks.
Israeli drones hovered over Beirut throughout much of Sunday, with the loud explosions of new airstrikes echoing throughout the Lebanese capital. Displaced families spent the night on benches in Zaytouna Bay, a chain of restaurants and cafes on Beirut’s waterfront.
Many of the Israeli attacks were carried out in southern Lebanon, where most of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah’s operations take place, or in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Monday’s attack in the Al-Kula area appears to be the first strike within the city limits of Beirut. Residents of the area said that Syrians living in southern Lebanon who fled Israeli bombing had been sleeping under a bridge in the neighborhood for days.
The United States urged a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Lebanon, but also allowed its army to reinforce its forces in the region.
When US President Joe Biden was asked if all-out war in the Middle East could be avoided, he said: “It has to be so.” He said he would speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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