Beirut residents await news as rescue crews dig for victims after Israeli strike

Anxious residents of Beirut have gathered to watch as rescue crews combed through the wreckage of a building flattened by an Israeli airstrike.

As the death toll slowly climbed, the fate of many friends and neighbors remained unknown, just a day after the attack on one of the city’s densely populated suburbs.

The airstrike, which Israeli officials said targeted Hezbollah commanders, left a scene of devastation. Lebanese authorities, however, reported civilian casualties. Tracked excavators clawed through the rubble of twisted concrete and metal, while firefighters sprayed water on the dusty debris. In some areas, rescuers worked with their bare hands, carefully maneuvering over what remained of the building’s collapsed structure.

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“I was in my house when I heard an explosion. At first, I thought it was the sound of a sonic boom from Israeli jets,” recounted a local resident, who declined to give his name. “But then I saw smoke and fire and knew it was an Israeli bombardment.”

The strike caused severe damage, not only leveling one building but also damaging others nearby, with windows shattered and parked cars left crushed under falling debris. Ali al-Harakeh, an official from Haret Hreik municipality where the attack occurred, confirmed that “a building was completely destroyed, and another saw its two lower floors damaged. There are other damaged buildings nearby, and a third building is about 30 percent destroyed.”

For some, the shock of the attack was compounded by the uncertainty surrounding loved ones. “I wasn’t in the area during Friday’s raid, but my friends and neighbors were,” said one woman, also speaking on condition of anonymity. She stood among the crowd, waiting to learn the fate of those trapped in the rubble, lamenting the “brutal attack.”

As the hours passed, the rescue effort continued under a cloud of tension and grief. In a city long accustomed to conflict, Friday’s airstrike delivered another reminder of the fragile security situation that leaves civilians trapped in the crossfire of larger geopolitical forces.