A central Beirut neighborhood was hit in a strike in the early hours of Thursday local time, CNN geolocation has confirmed.
CNN has verified imagery showing the impact of the strike that hit the Lebanese capital.
The strike hit Beirut’s Bachoura neighborhood, near the city’s downtown.
Important context: Israeli strikes in central Beirut are rare. The Thursday morning attack is the first Israeli strike to hit the heart of the capital since the last all-out war between Lebanon and Israel in 2006. Even then, Israel rarely targeted the city center. This is the second strike since 2006 to hit within Beirut city limits, with the first being near Cola bridge early Monday morning local time.
Just before the strike on central Beirut, a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs — a Hezbollah stronghold — destroyed a multi-story building in the residential Haret Hreik neighborhood, images geolocated by CNN appear to show.
In response to the strike in the southern suburbs, the Israeli military said it conducted a precise strike in Beirut. When asked about the strike in central Beirut, the military referred CNN to its previous statement.
