Israeli missiles explode next to Beirut Airport
Israel has launched an air strike against a site linked to Hezbollah within yards of the runways of Beirut airport.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) fired up to three missiles at a building located between two runways at Lebanon’s only civilian airport in the early hours of Thursday.
Footage posted on social media appeared to show several explosions at a site near the airport in Beirut after the IDF had warned nearby residents to evacuate.
All scheduled passenger flights to and from Beirut airport had already departed or landed by the time Israel struck the site.
One video claiming to be of the strike showed staff inside a hangar at the airport move into cover as a missile struck nearby and exploded.
Others showed large explosions and the sound of up to three missiles hitting the building with airport buses, steps and lorries pictured in the foreground.
Earlier, it was claimed aircraft had been moved to the other side of the airport, further from the location of the warning.
The airport has been receiving aid from different countries and is a portal for people to escape the war.
The strikes came after Hezbollah had fired more than 120 missiles at northern and southern Israel, killing a teenager and injuring several others.
The body of Sivan Sade was only discovered hours later in Kibbutz Kfar Masaryk near Acre after he suffered fatal injuries caused by shrapnel from a rocket.
Credit: will_christou/X
The Hezbollah rocket landed within the area of Israel’s main airport as the terror group fired over 120 missiles over the border.
Sirens were heard in central and northern Israel as barrages of rockets targeted towns and cities with several injured in the village of Avivim.
Smoke was seen at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion airport, the busiest in Israel, and a crater was pictured in what appeared to be a car park.
Ben Gurion airport would normally see more than 20 million passengers a year pass through but most airlines have cancelled flights as a result of the war.
Passengers have previously been seen lying on the tarmac taking cover as air raid sirens have gone off, but it is rare for a missile to land within its boundaries.
The Israel Airports Authority said that following the rocket impact the airport was “open and working normally for arrivals and departures”.
Debris from an intercepted Hezbollah rocket also struck a parked car in the central city of Ra’anana where it was pictured lodged in the roof of the vehicle.
The IDF said that 10 rockets were fired, most of which were intercepted.
Since Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon last month Hezbollah has continued to launch missiles and drones over the border at Israeli towns and cities.
On Wednesday morning, Israel said it had killed a Hezbollah battalion commander in the Khiam area of southern Lebanon in a recent air strike.
Hussein Abd al-Halim Harb was responsible for numerous rocket attacks on towns in the Galilee, especially Metula where five people were recently killed, according to the IDF.
The IDF said several Hezbollah operatives responsible for rocket fire on Israel were killed in air strikes directed by troops of the 36th Division.
It has said that Hezbollah’s rocket arsenal is down to about 20 per cent of what it was before the war and it was down to 30 per cent of its drones.
The latest attack comes as protests broke out in Israel on Tuesday after Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, fired Yoav Gallant, his defence minister.
Protesters took to the streets in cities including Nahariya, Haifa and in Jerusalem close to Mr Netanyahu’s residence. Israeli police dispersed protesters in Tel Aviv after they blocked highways and lit bonfires.
Mr Netanyahu claimed a crisis of trust over the management of Israel’s ongoing military operations and replaced Mr Gallant with Israel Katz, previously the foreign minister.
Mr Gallant and Mr Netanyahu, both in the Right-wing Likud party, have clashed for months over the objectives of Israel’s 13-month-old war in Gaza against Palestinian militant group Hamas.