Israeli drone strikes vehicles on Beirut airport road, 3 killed and 6 injured

Beirut: At least three people were killed and six others injured on Wednesday after two Israeli airstrikes targeted vehicles on the road leading to Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. 

According to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA), an Israeli drone first struck a vehicle on the busy airport highway. Minutes later, another car travelling in the same area was hit in a second strike, causing casualties and triggering panic among motorists.

Emergency teams rushed to the scene as ambulances transported the injured to nearby hospitals. The strikes occurred on a key road connecting Beirut to its international airport, raising concerns about civilian safety in one of the capital’s busiest transit corridors.

The Israeli military said the operation targeted two members of Hezbollah in the Beirut area but did not provide further details about the identities of those involved.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the intended target was Hezbollah’s official responsible for “fire management”, though the individual’s identity has not been disclosed.

Meanwhile, Lebanese media also reported that Israeli warplanes carried out an additional airstrike on the city of Choueifat, located south of Beirut.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it had completed a “wave of attacks” in Lebanon, claiming that Hezbollah infrastructure had been destroyed during the operation. According to the statement, the strikes targeted rocket launch sites south of the Litani River as well as a workshop allegedly used for manufacturing drones.

In a separate development, the Israeli army said air raid sirens were activated in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona after a drone launched from Lebanon was detected.

Earlier this week, Hezbollah said it had targeted a military site in northern Israel using rockets and drones.

The group said the attack was in response to ongoing Israeli strikes on Lebanon and the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei amid US-Israeli strikes on Iran that began on Saturday.

Following the attack, the Israeli military announced the launch of what it called an “offensive campaign” against Hezbollah and carried out multiple airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs and areas in southern Lebanon.

While Israel says the strikes are aimed at Hezbollah military infrastructure, Lebanese media reports claim that civilian facilities have also been hit during the operations.

Israel’s war with Hezbollah, which began in October 2023 and escalated into a full-scale conflict in September 2024, has killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and injured around 17,000 others, according to local authorities.