Israel pounds Lebanon, targets residential building in central Beirut

The strike in central Beirut hit a multistorey building in Aisha Bakkar and appears to be another attempted assassination, with no prior warning from Israel.

Emergency services inspect the damage after an Israeli attack on an apartment in the Aisha Bakkar neighbourhood of Beirut, Lebanon, on March 11, 2026 [Wael Hamzeh/EPA]

Israel has continued its relentless bombardment of Lebanon, striking a residential building in central Beirut and locations in the east and south of the embattled country, killing at least 64 people.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that strikes early on Wednesday killed seven people in Tamnin al-Tahta, in the Baalbek district, following an earlier report that 10 had died.

NNA also reported three people were killed after a car was targeted by an Israeli drone in Saf al-Hawa, Bint Jbeil, southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health also announced that seven people have been killed and 11 wounded in Israeli attacks on al-Shahabiya, southern Lebanon, overnight.

One person was killed in an Israeli drone attack in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, according to the NNA, and one person was killed in Zlaya, Bekaa, the ministry said.

In Tyre, at least one person was killed and 14 others injured in an Israeli air raid that targeted a building in the village of Maarakah, according to the NNA.

Beirut: ‘Nowhere safe, there’s no front line’

The attack on a multistorey building in the Aisha Bakkar area of central Beirut appeared to be another attempted assassination, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reported from the site on Wednesday.

Khodr explained that the building is not a Hezbollah stronghold or in an area where the group has influence, but is located in a densely populated residential area.

“People here are in a state of shock,” she said, “the feeling is that there’s nowhere safe, there’s no front line.”

According to Heidi Pett, also reporting for Al Jazeera from central Beirut, the strike destroyed “one or two floors” of the building instead of levelling it entirely, adding that there was no information yet on who the target was.

“The damage is really extensive,” she said, adding that the Israeli attack came without warning.

“This is a part of Beirut where people thought that they were going to be safe. Displaced families who fled Dahiyeh [in the southern suburbs after Israeli threats] have been sheltering here, some sleeping in the streets,” said Pett.

The Lebanese government says about 780,000 people have been displaced in the country, a punishing front in the wider regional war which started with the United States and Israel attacking Iran.

Hezbollah said on Wednesday it launched another rocket attack on Israeli military positions south of Khiam in southern Lebanon. The group says it has repeatedly targeted Israeli military positions in the area in recent days.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded heavy fire during the ongoing conflict, but the suffering has been hugely disproportionate. Two Israeli soldiers have so far been killed in Lebanon, with several people injured in Israel from Hezbollah rockets.

The Lebanese ministry released updated figures on Wednesday confirming 634 killed 1,586 injured in the war so far by Israel.

No letup in bombings in across Lebanon

According to NNA, other deadly attacks in the country overnight included some in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Additionally, two Israeli air strikes hit the village of Hanaway, in the Tyre district, killing three civilians, including a paramedic, according to the Ministry of Public Health.

An Israeli attack killed one person and wounded eight others in the al-Housh area of Tyre, the ministry said.

Two people were also killed in an Israeli attack on the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, the NNA reported.

Several people were wounded in an Israeli drone attack on a cafe in al-Housh and on a house in the town of al-Shahabiya, also in Tyre.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, France said it ⁠would ⁠provide 60 tonnes of humanitarian aid ⁠for Lebanon.

“We have decided is ‌to triple the volume of aid that will arrive this week. This aid will reach … ⁠60 tons of humanitarian ⁠aid for the Lebanese, including sanitation kits, hygiene kits, ⁠mattresses, lamps, and ⁠also a ⁠mobile medical post,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel ⁠Barrot said in an interview with ‌French radio TF1.

United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric has called for “immediate de-escalation” in Lebanon, noting that Israeli forced displacement orders have affected hundreds of thousands of people.

“Our humanitarian colleagues report that nearly the entire population of people living in areas south of the Litani River, parts of Baalbek governorate and the Bekaa Valley, and large sections of Beirut’s southern suburbs are now caught up in hostilities,” Dujarric told reporters at a media briefing in New York late on Tuesday.

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(c) 2026, Al Jazeera

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/11/israel-continues-to-pound-lebanon-hits-dense-area-of-central-beirut