Israel continues attacks on Beirut, several killed, people flee Lebanon

(Patria) - Several people were killed and eleven wounded in an Israeli strike on the Bachoura district in central Beirut after midnight, Lebanon's health ministry said.

The Israeli attack occurred not far from the city center, a security source earlier told Reuters. Witnesses said a huge explosion was heard across the Lebanese capital.

Israel launched three airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut shortly before midnight last night, a source close to Hezbollah said earlier, the third wave of attacks on the Iran-backed group in the past 24 hours.

In Israeli attacks on Lebanon over the past 24 hours, 46 people were killed and 85 wounded, Lebanon's health ministry said.

Thousands of people are fleeing Lebanon as Israel carries out its heaviest airstrikes since 2006, when Hezbollah and the Israeli army fought a devastating war. Last night, planes carrying Lebanese citizens fleeing Israeli airstrikes arrived in Cyprus after the Israeli army launched a ground operation in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah.

"It was a terrible situation, a really terrible situation," Lebanese Ali Abdul Hassan told Reuters news agency after arriving in the capital Larnaca late last night.

The 49-year-old said he fled Beirut after an airstrike hit his neighborhood near the capital, severely damaging his home. He said the targeted building housed Lebanese families who had already fled southern Lebanon.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced in the country in recent weeks due to the latest conflict, including more than 100,000 people, mostly Lebanese and Syrians, who have fled across the border into Syria, according to United Nations data.