Israel attacks central Beirut in escalation of deadly assault on Lebanon

Israel targets centre of Lebanese capital in escalation of military campaign that has killed nearly 700 people.

Israel has carried out a new wave of attacks on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, sending enormous plumes of black smoke billowing up over parts of the city.

The latest Israeli strikes on Thursday targeted central Beirut’s Bashoura neighbourhood as well as the southern suburbs.

The Israeli military also issued a warning to evacuate a building in Zuqaq al-Blat, another area in the city centre.

The targeting of central Beirut marks an escalation in a week and a half of intensified Israeli bombing across Lebanon, which has killed at least 687 people and wounded more than 1,500, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

Lebanese authorities said more than 800,000 people have been forcibly displaced due to the violence, which began on March 2 after Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israeli territory following the start of the United States-Israeli war on Iran.

The Israeli military has launched a widespread aerial and ground assault against its northern neighbour, describing the offensive as a campaign against Hezbollah.

The Lebanese armed group has responded with waves of rocket strikes against Israel, including a large salvo that was launched on Wednesday evening in coordination with Iran.

The United Nations and humanitarian groups said Lebanese civilians – including hundreds of thousands who have sought emergency shelter after being forced out of their homes – are bearing the brunt of the escalating conflict.

Many of those who were forced to flee southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, an area known as Dahiyeh, have been staying in schools-turned-shelters, with relatives or in tents along the waterfront.

At least 12 people were killed in an Israeli double-tap strike earlier on Thursday in the seafront area of Ramlet al-Baida, where displaced families were sleeping in tents.

Separately, Lebanon’s National News Agency also reported that an Israeli drone strike on a Lebanese University building in Hadath, near Beirut, killed two academics.

Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith said the country is grappling with a worsening displacement crisis, with 90 percent of government shelters full.

“People who are in those shelters have already seen their homes blown up, particularly those from the southern suburbs [of Beirut] and southern Lebanon, so they don’t have homes to go back to,” Smith reported from the capital.

“Many people are day labourers [and] can’t earn any salary. So people are without money, without a home to go back to, and this campaign of Israel’s and this fight between Israel and Hezbollah show no indication of ending soon.”