People inspect the site of an Israeli air strike in Jiyyeh along the highway linking Beirut to the southern city of Saida on Sept. 25, 2024. (Credit: Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)
BEIRUT — On Tuesday night, a loud explosion was heard in Beirut and parts of Mount Lebanon, though the actual strike occurred about 20 kilometers south, in the Chouf district, in the coastal village of Saadiyat, just north of Jiyyeh. Once it became clear where the Israeli strike had occurred, its distance from the capital immediately raised questions about how the sound could have traveled so far.
A Civil Defense source told L'Orient Today that the Israeli missile hit an area between a car warehouse and a coal storage facility, causing significant damage to both. "The destruction in the area and the warehouses was immense," the source said.
A video shared on social media showed a cloud of black smoke billowing up from the site of the strike and burning debris falling from it.
In response to claims that the warehouses may have been storing weapons belonging to Hezbollah, the Civil Defense source clarified that no additional explosions occurred following the strike, which would be expected should a stockpile of munitions be bombed. He emphasized that no one was injured but noted that the missile used was highly destructive, leading to extensive damage. The source also said that the strike broke windows in nearby buildings
A resident of the area, currently hosting people displaced by the relentless Israeli bombing further south in the country, recounted being jolted awake by the explosion. "We were startled awake, but I don’t plan to leave my home since they didn’t strike a civilian target here. I still feel safe," they told L'Orient Today.
Approximately 90,500 people have fled southern Lebanon since Israel ramped up its strikes in the past five days, hitting around 800 sites on Monday and 1,500 on Tuesday and killing around 600 people, including 50 children and 94 women.
A Lebanese military source told L'Orient Today that while it's difficult to identify the specific weapon used, it was likely a large missile. He believes that people in Beirut and Mount Lebanon were able to hear the explosion so clearly because of Saadiyat being right on the water — sound travels more easily over water.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah confirmed that Ibrahim Mohammed Qobeissy, one of its military officials, was killed in an Israeli bombing the day before in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The strike also killed five others and injured 15, according to Lebanese authorities.
In the wake of the escalating violence, schools and universities in Lebanon will remain closed until the end of the week, and several airlines have suspended flights to Beirut.
Israel had previously announced in mid-September that it was shifting "the center of gravity of [its] military operations" northward, along the Lebanese border, to facilitate the return of thousands of residents evacuated when Hezbollah opened its front with Israel in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza, where the Israeli army has killed more than 41,000 people in a deadly year-long military onslaught.