Israel carried out an airstrike near the Cola intersection in central Beirut in the early hours of Monday morning. This is the first time the Israelis have hit Beirut outside the southern suburbs since 2006. The sound of the explosion was heard throughout the city.
Col Junction is a popular reference point in Beirut, where taxis and buses gather to pick up waiting passengers.
Initial images from the impact site showed residential buildings completely blown up. The footage shows bystanders running towards the building and a mutilated body lying on the pavement in front of the building, seemingly thrown from the force of the explosion.
Before Monday morning’s attack, Israel had limited its attacks on the Lebanese capital to its southern suburbs. The airstrike cast doubt on which areas of Beirut are still safe from Israel’s expanding air campaign.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group fighting against Israel, said three senior figures were killed in an attack in Beirut.
The attack was carried out using an unmanned aerial vehicle.
Monday’s airstrike came after Lebanon’s health ministry said 105 people were killed and another 359 wounded in Israeli strikes across the country on Sunday.
More than 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and 6,000 wounded in the past two weeks. The government said a million people – a fifth of the population – had fled their homes.
