Israel hits Beirut, killing at least 9 people and wounding dozens in deadliest strike in years

Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli airstrike has hit a neighborhood of Beirut, killing at least nine people and wounding nearly 60 others. That’s according to Lebanese health officials. Friday’s attack was the deadliest such Israeli strike on Lebanon’s capital since the 2006 war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group. Israel’s strike on a crowded southern suburb of Beirut targeted a senior Hezbollah military official, signaling a major escalation in the past 11 months of war. It came shortly after Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with 140 rockets and the region awaited the revenge promised by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, for this week’s mass bombing attack on pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members.