Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Beirut
A man with his hands behind his back and his back to the camera looks up at an apartment block which has been hit by an airstrike
Image source,Reuters
Image caption,
An apartment block in the Bachoura neighbourhood which was hit in an Israeli airstrike
A loud explosion was heard as Israel bombed central Beirut at around midnight.
The building hit was in the Bachoura neighbourhood, near the Lebanese parliament – the first Israeli airstrike to hit the heart of the capital in this conflict.
Pictures of the aftermath showed a heavily damaged apartment building, with the first floor partially destroyed.
Dahieh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut, was also attacked. The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for several areas of the district, saying it would target Hezbollah facilities and interests in the future.
In the south of the country, there were signs Israel was preparing to expand its ground invasion, with more troops being sent to the border yesterday.
