GAZA, Palestine
A Palestinian militant group said on Monday that three of its leaders were killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut, the first attack within city limits as Israel escalated hostilities against Iran's allies in the region.
The Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said the three leaders were killed in a strike
that targeted Beirut's Kola district.
The strike hit the upper floor
of an apartment building in the Kola district of Lebanon's capital, Reuters
witnesses said.
There was no immediate comment
from Israel's military.
Israel's increasing frequency
of attacks against the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and the Houthi militia in
Yemen have prompted fears that Middle East fighting could spin out of control
and draw in Iran and the United States, Israel's main ally.
The PFLP is another militant
group taking part in the fight against Israel.
Israel on Sunday launched
airstrikes against the Houthi militia in Yemen and dozens of Hezbollah targets
throughout Lebanon after earlier killing the Hezbollah leader.
The Houthi-run health ministry
said at least four people were killed and 29 wounded in airstrikes on Yemen's
port of Hodeidah, which Israel said were a response to Houthi missile attacks.
In Lebanon, authorities said at least 105 people had been killed by Israeli air
strikes on Sunday.
Lebanon's Health Ministry has
said more than 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and 6,000 wounded in the past
two weeks, without saying how many were civilians. The government said a
million people - a fifth of the population - have fled their homes.
The intensifying Israeli
bombardment over two weeks has killed a string of top Hezbollah officials,
including its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Israel has vowed to keep up
the assault and says it wants to make its northern areas secure again for
residents who have been forced to flee Hezbollah rocket attacks.
Israeli drones hovered over
Beirut for much of Sunday, with the loud blasts of new airstrikes echoing
around the Lebanese capital. Displaced families spent the night on benches at
Zaitunay Bay, a string of restaurants and cafes on Beirut's waterfront.
Many of Israel's attacks have
been carried out in the south of Lebanon, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah has
most of its operations, or Beirut's southern suburbs.
Monday's attack in the Kola
district appeared to be the first strike within Beirut's city limits. Syrians
living in southern Lebanon who had fled Israeli bombardment had been sleeping
under a bridge in the neighborhood for days, residents of the area said.
The United States has urged a
diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Lebanon but has also authorised its
military to reinforce in the region.
U.S. President Joe Biden,
asked if an all-out war in the Middle East could be avoided, said “It has to
be." He said he will be talking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu.
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