‘It felt like time stopped:’ Israel launches 100-strike attack across Lebanon despite ceasefire announcement

Israel launched a sweeping wave of at least 100 airstrikes across Beirut and the rest of Lebanon on Wednesday afternoon, shattering hopes that the ceasefire in the region would allow displaced families in Lebanon to return home quickly. Dozens were killed and hundreds were injured, the Lebanese Health Ministry said in an initial report  as the number of casualties rose rapidly in the immediate aftermath of the strikes. It said authorities were working to retrieve people still buried under the rubble. Rima Naboulsy was in Corniche al-Mazraa, a high-traffic, residential and commercial area in Beirut, that was packed with people when an airstrike passed above her. She saw a missile pass above the cars and hit a nearby building, leaving her terrified. “I’m not sure how I made it out,” she told Mada Masr. “Suddenly everything was smoke, and the sound was so intense, it felt like time stopped.” Naboulsy was displaced from Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, at the beginning of the war that surged through Lebanon at the start of  March, and had planned to return home on Wednesday, packing her belongings in the car after she heard news of the ceasefire. She changed her plans as the strikes resumed. The strikes hit several areas across Dahiyeh, including Hay al-Sellom, Bir Hassan, Shiyah and Burj al-Barajneh. Other parts of western and central Beirut were also targeted alongside Corniche al-Mazraa, including Burj Abi Haidar, Msaitbeh, Basta and Ain el-Mreisseh. The areas targeted by Israel are among the most densely populated in Lebanon and host large numbers of displaced people. They included the southern city of Saida, which is crowded with tens of thousands displaced from other areas across south Lebanon that have been ordered to evacuate since early March by Israeli displacement orders. “A strike landed only 400–500 meters from us, and I’ve never heard anything that powerful before,” said Zahraa Khalil, a displaced woman from the south now staying in Saida. “At first, we tried to convince ourselves it was a sonic boom [caused by low-flying Israeli jets breaking the sound barrier], but we quickly realized it wasn’t.” “The blast shook the windows and doors in their frames. Seeing the smoke made it impossible to deny what was happening,” she told Mada Masr. Strikes extended to mountain areas like Kayfoun and Bchamoun, as well as areas across the south from Sur to Adloun, Majadel, Ain Qana, Jebchit and Ansar. In Beqaa, areas including Hermel, Shmastar, Douris, Sohmor and Karak were also hit. In a statement, the Israeli military said the strikes were carried out within 10 minutes, claiming they targeted around 100 “Hezbollah sites” and describing it as the single largest operation since it redoubled its aggression against Lebanon this year. It added that the raids focused on “elite units, missile systems and drone capabilities, based on precise intelligence and a plan prepared over several weeks.” Israel’s military head also said the strikes marked the launch of a new operation named “ Eternal Darkness .” The wave of airstrikes came despite the ceasefire that Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced in the early hours of Wednesday with a statement saying that the United States, Iran and their allies agreed to an immediate ceasefire “everywhere, including Lebanon,” and that talks toward a negotiated settlement would occur in Islamabad in the coming days. Hezbollah halted its attacks on Israeli sites early Wednesday. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated hours after the ceasefire’s announcement that the truce would not apply to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon. While Israel supports the US decision to halt strikes on Iran, the two-week ceasefire “does not include Lebanon” where Israeli military operations will continue, Netanyahu said. The Israeli military also said it was continuing its ground operations in Lebanon’s south. A regional diplomat weighing the prospect of a ceasefire in Lebanon told Mada Masr on Tuesday evening that there could be two ways that Israel and the US seek to exclude it from a regional settlement. The first, said the diplomat, could see the US claim to negotiate a ceasefire deal exclusively with Iran, arguing that the US is not implicated in the war on Lebanon, which would allow Netanyahu to continue the war. The other could see a halt to hostilities for several days before Israel resumes attacks “under the pretense of an imminent threat.” Lebanon’s social affairs minister told media on Wednesday that Lebanon wants a seat at the negotiating table, and that the president and prime minister are already making calls to that effect. But since news of the ceasefire broke, some of the more than a million people displaced by Israel’s attacks across the south and the capital had already attempted to return to their homes after five weeks of waiting and uncertainty. They were met with aerial strikes that targeted cars and motorcycles in the towns of Debbine, Qasmiyeh and Srifa in the Sur District, where Israel’s military issued new displacement orders while threatening to hit a building in the city of Sur. In response, Hezbollah called on residents to remain patient and avoid returning for now, urging “more patience, resilience and waiting,” and warning people not to head back to targeted areas in the south, Beqaa, or Beirut’s southern suburbs before an official ceasefire announcement. Meanwhile, Hezbollah MP Ibrahim Mousawy told local media that the ceasefire agreement includes Lebanon “according to the text,” adding that Iran had insisted on this point. He warned that if Israel does not commit to the ceasefire, “no one will,” and that there would be a response from the region and Iran. Iran’s national security council had threatened hours earlier that it would continue to strike Tel Aviv if Israel did not cease its attacks on Lebanon. The post ‘It felt like time stopped:’ Israel launches 100-strike attack across Lebanon despite ceasefire announcement first appeared on Mada Masr .