Man describes ‘panic’ after Israeli strike on Beirut beachpublished at 12:42 GMT
12:42 GMT
Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Beirut
We’ve been speaking to people at the scene of the overnight strike
by the beachfront here in the Lebanese capital Beirut.
Mohamad Ali says he fled from his home in Beirut’s southern
suburbs when the war began and headed further north into the capital, looking
for safety.
“We were sleeping here peacefully and didn’t feel anything until
something exploded and we woke up in a panic,” he says. “They said one strike
had happened so we went back to sleep, thinking the targeting was over, but
then the second strike happened – people started saying that civilians were
being targeted and everyone started running,” he adds.
Mohamad says he grabbed two of his children and rushed them away
from the area.
He says schools that have been transformed into displacement
centres in the city are already full, leaving few options for people who have
fled from their homes.
“Where should we go? There’s nowhere to go,” he says.
Israel has not yet commented on the strike but says its military
action in Lebanon is targeting the Iran-backed group Hezbollah. Over the
weekend, the Israeli military said it had targeted Iranian commanders at a
central Beirut hotel. The Iranian government condemned the strike, calling it a
“cowardly terrorist assassination of four diplomats”.