Israel kills 18 civil defense workers in targeted strikes on Baalbek, Nabatieh | Evacuation orders, bombing continues in Beirut’s Ghobeiry | Israeli attack on family home in Baalbek kills 8

Israel continued to pummel Beirut on Friday, launching airstrikes on Borj al-Barajneh and on Ghobeiry.

The attacks come after four consecutive days of heavy airstrikes on Beirut's southwestern suburbs, triggering another wave of displacement from the area, once home to hundreds of thousands of Lebanese residents. 

The day before, Israel had targeted the still-crowded Chiyah area with four airstrikes. The fourth strike was described as “very violent,” hitting the Abdel Karim Khalil Street, near the Jamal neighborhood’s produce market.

Speaking to Mada Masr on the condition of anonymity, a Lebanese political source suggested on Friday that the strikes could be meant to signal a move against the Amal Movement, which is responsible for the security of Chiyah. 

The Israeli military issued several evacuation orders for the two neighborhoods on Friday morning, claiming they were close to Hezbollah facilities and assets that would be targeted in the near future. 

In Ghobeiry, the areas marked in the evacuation order included properties located near the Bustan High School and the local civil defense center, as well as a mosque. In Borj al-Barajnah, the Israeli military marked an area near the Hussein Maktabi High School and a stadium. The Israeli military also instructed residents to immediately move at least 500 meters away from said areas. 

Gunfire was reported throughout Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday, a sign of warning to residents following the Israeli military’s evacuation orders. Residents scrambled to reach safety before the attacks, according to the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA).

Warplanes later raided Borj al-Barajneh, firing two missiles at the area. Details about the destruction inflicted are yet to emerge as rescue operations continue, the NNA reported.

Two drone strikes and a “highly destructive” airstrike launched by Israeli warplanes also destroyed an area near the local municipality in Ghobeiry, causing a building to collapse on Friday, according to the NNA. The latter blast, which struck an area opposite Horsh Beirut, the urban park in central Beirut, was so powerful that its impact was heard throughout the capital.

Social media footage captured the blast, showing the entire structure leveled in Ghobeiry and leaving destruction in its aftermath. Residents worked to recover their neighbors and belongings from underneath the rubble with the help of civil defense rescue teams.

The NNA also reported heightened Israeli activity over Dahiyeh on Friday afternoon, with Israeli warplanes hovering in the sky.

It also issued new evacuation orders Friday afternoon to residents of Hadath and Haret Hreik, instructing them to leave immediately.

In Baalbek, Israeli airstrikes targeted a two-storey residential building in the historic city’s Shaab neighborhood. The Lebanese Health Ministry said that eight people were killed, including five women, and 27 were injured in the strike. Those killed were all members of the same family. The wounded were rushed to the Baalbek Public Hospital, Dar al-Amal University Hospital and the Rayan Hospital, while rescue and recovery operations continued at the site of the attack, Lebanese media reported. 

Strikes on the outskirts of Baalbek also saw Israel target the village of Taraya, where four people were wounded in their home, and al-Bazaliyah, where one person was killed. Meanwhile, a separate attack killed another person and injured five in Sarin al-Fawqa. 

Israel also killed 12 civil defense workers on Thursday as it targeted the Regional Civil Defence Center in Baalbek’s Douris near the city’s entrance, the Health Ministry said. The figure was later revised up to 13, according to the NNA, which said that the workers killed, including the center’s director, had been responding to the crisis in the Shaab neighborhood earlier. The Lebanese Health Ministry called the attack “barbaric.” 

Lebanese Civil Defense released a statement on Friday confirming the destruction of its center in Douris, saying the attack had completely leveled the facility while several personnel were inside preparing to respond to emergencies and provide immediate assistance to citizens. The statement underscored the danger faced by emergency responders amid the escalating hostilities. 

In southern Lebanon, another civil defense center was completely destroyed in another devastating overnight attack. The NNA reported that Israeli warplanes targeted another civil defense center, run by the Islamic Health Authority in the town of Arabsalim, killing six people, including five paramedics, as well as a father and his son. 

According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, Israel has killed at least 192 Lebanese emergency and health workers since the start of its escalation against Lebanon in late September.

As Israel continued its ground operations on border areas in the south, Hezbollah announced that it had launched on Friday morning a salvo of advanced missiles at the Tira Camel base in southern Haifa. Other Friday attacks, which the group said it launched in solidarity with Gaza and Lebanon, included a strike on a military gathering at the Yiftah Barracks, a rocket barrage at another Israeli military gathering on the outskirts of Markaba, a second attack on the same gathering two hours later, with another rocket salvo, as well as a rocket barrage targeting another cluster of Israeli soldiers in the Misgav Am settlement.

Later in the day, the group also announced that it had launched a ballistic missile at Israeli soldiers at the Sasa settlement, as well as at another group stationed in the Lebanese border town of Maroun al-Ras with a “large, precision-guided strike,” saying the attack was a success and that some Israeli soldiers were injured.

Additionally, at around midnight, its fighters launched a rocket to the north of Akka, targeting the Shiraga base, which it said is the administrative headquarters of the Golani Brigade.