Middle East: Airstrike levels Beirut multi-story building
November 15, 2024
What you need to know
- A strike has brought down a multi-story building in the Lebanese capital Beirut
- Syrian state media has reported a second Israeli strike in 2 days
- A Hamas official told AFP the group is 'ready for a cease-fire'
This is a roundup of the latest developments from the conflicts in the Middle East on November 15, 2024:
Israeli strike hits Damascus — Syrian state media
Syrian state-run media reported that Israel struck the Mazzeh district of Syria's capital, Damascus on Friday.
The Mazzeh area of Damascus is home to embassies, security headquarters and United Nations' offices.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the strikes targeted a "military housing complex."
"Fire trucks and ambulances headed to the targeted site amid reports of casualties, with security services and regime forces completely cordoning off the targeted site," the monitor said.
The official SANA news agency also reported a deadly Israeli strike on the Mazzeh district on Thursday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 13 people, including both civilians and Iran-backed fighters, were killed in the strike.
Israel acknowledged the strikes, saying it was targeting the Islamic Jihad group. The Palestinian militant group has fought alongside Hamas against Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli authorities rarely comment on individual strikes in Syria.
Hamas 'ready for cease-fire' — report
Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim told AFP news agency that the militant group was ready to reach a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
The official is a member of Hamas' political bureau based in Doha, Qatar.
"Hamas is ready to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip if a ceasefire proposal is presented and on the condition that it is respected" by Israel, Naim told AFP.
"We call on the US administration and [US president-elect Donald] Trump to pressure the Israeli government to end the aggression," he said.
It comes nearly a week after Qatar announced it was suspending its role as a mediator in talks towards a cease-fire and hostage release deal in Gaza.
"Qatar would resume those efforts... when the parties show their willingness and seriousness," Doha's foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said in a statement.
Beirut building collapses after Israeli strikes
A multistory building collapsed in the Tayouneh neighborhood of Lebanon's capital, Beirut, after being severely damaged by Israeli airstrikes.
Tayouneh is near the Horsh Beirut public park and is where Lebanon's southern neighborhoods meet the rest of the city.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported a "heavy raid carried out by aircraft of the Israeli enemy" in the Ghobeiry area of southern Beirut.
It said the raid was preceded by two missile strikes on the same target by an Israeli drone.
The Israeli military has said the southern suburbs of Beirut are a bastion for the Hezbollah militant group.
The Friday strikes followed a call by the Israeli military to evacuate the area.
"All residents in the southern suburbs, specifically ... in the Ghobeiry area, you are located near facilities and interests affiliated with Hezbollah," the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said in a post on the platform X.
"For your safety and the safety of your family members, you must evacuate these buildings and those adjacent to them immediately."
Also on Friday, the Israeli military said in a post on X that it had launched strikes on what it described as over 120 Hezbollah targets within 24 hours.
It said that ground operations in southern Lebanon were still ongoing.
sdi/ab (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)