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Israel has struck a building in a residential neighborhood in Beirut in the deadliest attack on Lebanon in almost two decades. The Israeli military said it killed a senior commander with the militant group Hezbollah, along with 10 other Hezbollah fighters. Hezbollah did not confirm the deaths. Lebanese health officials said at least nine people were killed, including children, and 60 others wounded. NPR's Jane Arraf has this report from near the blast site in Beirut.
(SOUNDBITE OF EMERGENCY VEHICLE BUZZING)
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: It's hours after the strike in Beirut, and rescue workers are continuing to search for survivors. I've come here to Beirut's southern suburbs with NPR producer Jawad Rizkallah. Streets are closed. There are emergency workers rushing past, ambulances waiting.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Go behind to the left.
ARRAF: There are civil defense workers in yellow vests...
(CROSSTALK)
ARRAF: ...Firefighters in red suits.
(CROSSTALK)
ARRAF: We're now being told to move back...
(CROSSTALK)
ARRAF: ...And to turn off the cameras.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Security people are obviously very nervous here. There's someone who looks suspicious to them, and...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: ...They're dragging him away.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting in non-English language).
ARRAF: The crowd starts chanting, "allegiance to Imam Husayn," one of the central figures in Shia Islam. The strike flattened a building in a residential neighborhood here. The late afternoon attack hit as people headed home from work and children were coming home from school. Small groups of neighborhood residents huddled on the sidewalks as emergency workers streamed in.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: This man, a blacksmith, said he was searching for four missing relatives, including two girls, a teenager and a 3-year-old. His father-in-law and his wife's brother were in hospital, being treated for injuries. Two women went by, one of them weeping, the other trying to console her.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Ali Dar (ph), 17, was looking for his brother-in-law and his 4-year-old daughter. He said their apartment building collapsed when the building next door was hit.
ALI DAR: (Through interpreter) They're still missing. We're looking, and we don't know anything.
ARRAF: Dar said he was trying to remain calm so he could be helpful. You can understand why the atmosphere is particularly tense. The airstrike today follows Israeli attacks this week that killed at least 37 people and wounded more than 3,000 when pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah throughout its security and civilian network exploded. People are wondering when other electronic devices might start to blow up. Israel said the strike targeted Ibrahim Akil, the leader of the group's special forces. People here said the Israeli attack would increase rather than diminish support for Hezbollah.
IMAN: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Iman (ph), who's 26, said she was a few hundred feet from the blast, close enough to feel it and see the black smoke.
IMAN: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: "If we were the type to run, we wouldn't be here clearing the rubble right now," she says. "We would have fled and hidden. But, no, we're here, and we're willing to sacrifice."
Earlier in the day, Hezbollah fired more than 140 rockets into northern Israel in response to cross-border Israeli attacks that killed several fighters in the south of Lebanon. Israel said, after the Beirut airstrike, it wasn't seeking regional escalation. But the head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said Thursday that the group would be certain to avenge the Israeli strikes.
Jane Arraf, NPR News, Beirut. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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