ISRAEL – First responders have recovered the bodies of 30 people killed in an Israeli air strike on an apartment building south of Beirut, Lebanon’s Civil Defence agency says. Tuesday evening’s attack destroyed one side of the four-storey building that was reportedly housing displaced people in the predominantly Sunni Muslim coastal town of Barja and sparked a fire. The Israeli military said it struck “terror infrastructure” belonging to the Shia armed group Hezbollah. Another 30 people were killed in Israeli strikes around the eastern city of Baalbek on Wednesday, according to the local governor. There was no immediate confirmation from the Lebanese health ministry, which gave a preliminary death toll of 20 from the strike on Barja late on Tuesday.

Moussa Zahran, who lived on one of the upper floors of the apartment building that was hit, said his son and wife were injured by falling masonry. “These rocks that you see here weigh 100kg, they fell on a 13kg kid,” he told Reuters news agency as he surveyed the damage. “I removed [the rocks] and… handed my son to the civil defence through the window. I carried my wife and came downstairs and got out behind the building… I thank God, glory be to Him, for this miracle.” An Irish Times correspondent cited a member of the civil defence at the scene as saying that those killed whose bodies were found complete included seven women and three children – a seven-month-old baby and two girls aged seven and 12. Neighbours also said the building was housing displaced people who had fled from other areas, she added. There was no evacuation warning ahead of the strike, according to Reuters. (BBC)

Photo: Moussa Zahran said his wife and son were injured by the air strike. (Reuters)