Israel targets southern Beirut neighborhood after evacuation order

Israeli military says it intercepted a UAV in Syrian territory that was launched towards Israel

The Israeli military said on Friday it intercepted overnight an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in Syrian territory that was launched towards Israel.

The UAV was intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory, the IDF said.

Israel strikes southern Beirut neighborhood after Israeli evacuation orders, says Lebanon news agency

At least 10 strikes hit Beirut’s suburban areas of Ghobeiry and Al-Kafaat, the Sayyed Hadi Highway, the vicinity of the Al-Mujtaba Complex at dawn on Friday, Lebanon’s official news agency said, after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders for buildings in the area.

AFPTV footage showed explosions followed by clouds of smoke that rang out in the city’s suburbs after the Israeli army ordered several buildings in Hezbollah’s stronghold to evacuate. “The raids left massive destruction in the targeted areas, as dozens of buildings were levelled to the ground, in addition to the outbreak of fires,” the National News Agency (NNA) said.

Friday’s strikes come a day after Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met visiting US officials to discuss a possible deal to end the war in Lebanon, with the death toll mounting on both sides of the border.

Cross-border Hezbollah rockets kill 7 in Israel

Rocket barrages from Lebanon into northern Israel killed four foreign workers and three Israelis on Thursday, Israeli medics said, the deadliest cross-border strikes in Israel since it invaded Lebanon. Israel kept up airstrikes it says targeted Hezbollah militants across Lebanon, where health authorities on Thursday reported 24 people killed.

Projectiles from Lebanon crashed into an agricultural area in Metula, Israel’s northernmost town, killing four Thai workers and an Israeli farmer, officials said.

Hours later, the Israeli military reported another volley of some 25 rockets from Lebanon, striking an olive grove in a suburb of the northern Israeli port city of Haifa. That strike killed a 30-year-old man and 60-year-old woman while wounding two others, said Magen David Adom, Israel’s main emergency medical organization.

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