Israeli strike on central Beirut kills at least five, injures 11

At least five were killed and 11 wounded in an Israeli airstrike on an alleged Hezbollah rescue facility in central Beirut’s Bachoura neighborhood early on Thursday, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement.

An Israeli strike hit within Beirut’s city limits, not far from downtown, a security source earlier said.

Witnesses said that a massive blast was heard across the Lebanese capital.

Israel launched three airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs just before midnight Wednesday, a source close to Hezbollah earlier said, the third wave of Israeli strikes against the pro-Iranian militant group in the past 24 hours.

Forty six people were killed and 85 wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon in the past 24 hours, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement.