People check a damaged building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Choueifat, south east of Beirut, on Sept. 28. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT— There was much speculation across Lebanon Wednesday night over whether Israel had started deploying warships in its ongoing attacks against the country. The Israeli army bombed the southern suburbs of Beirut overnight, as it has been for the last week and a half, but also targeted on Thursday a Hezbollah-affiliated healthcare center in central Beirut, in it second attack on Beirut proper since fighting began. Nine paramedics from the Islamic Health Association were killed in the strike.
Many people in Lebanon, seasoned by years of war, claimed they could discern from the sounds of the strikes how they were launched. Residents of Beirut reported hearing a whistling sound before the strike that targeted the healthcare center, leading some to believe it was a missile fired from the sea, rather than dropped from above. Several took to social media to insist that the attacks targeting Beirut and its southern suburbs were not solely from Israeli airstrikes but involved warships as well, but the Israeli army has yet to announce the use of warships in its military operations.
Social media lit up with posts. Rana wrote a message to the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed last week when Israel dropped over 80 bombs on Beirut's suburbs in an assassination operation. In her tweet, she wrote, “They are bombing civilians from warships at sea. Sayyed [Nasrallah], you had promised us that when they attack our civilians, you would attack their civilians… Sayyed, tell us again, ‘Look at it burning.’”
عم يقصفوا المدنيين من بوارج بالبحر
— Rana_ WB1 (@Rana_WWB1) October 3, 2024
يا سيدنا أنت وعدتنا أنو المدنيين بالمدنين
وقلت أنك حاضر برآ بحرآ وان المقاومة
أعدت ألعدة لبوارجهم إذا ما وطئت بحرنا
سيدنا قل لنا
"أنظروا إليها تحترق"
🙏🏻✌🏻#السيد_حسن_نصرالله #الضاحية_الجنوبية
Rana’s message hearkens back to Nasrallah’s famous speech during the 2006 war when Hezbollah struck an Israeli warship after it had targeted Lebanese infrastructure and civilians, all while Nasrallah was giving his speech.
"انظروا اليها تحترق"
— Ahmed Jahaf احمد جحاف (@A7medJa7af) July 14, 2024
لن ننسى هذا اليوم | ١٤ تموز ٢٠٠٦
pic.twitter.com/8tJpAOyUS3
During Israel's intense bombardment of the southern suburbs early Thursday morning, Iyad, like many others, expressed his belief that the strikes were coming from the sea, not the sky. "The attacks are from warships, not fighter jets," his post read.
بوارج حربية اسرائيلية تقصف الضاحية الجنوبية pic.twitter.com/lGy5qBuFlt
— Iyad (@iyadhomse) October 2, 2024
Military expert Riad Kahwaji, speaking to L’Orient Today, acknowledged the speculation as not unwarranted. “It is highly possible that Israel has begun using its warships in the war," he said. "Israelis are not going to come close to Lebanese coastal lines, even if they are attacking Lebanon from the sea, because of Hezbollah’s possession of anti-ship weapons. From what we saw yesterday, if it was a sea-borne attack, the Israelis likely used sea-launched cruise missiles against the targets in Beirut. These are accurate, guided missiles that can hit the target with high precision. Israel has a variety of such missiles, including the Barak and Popeye missiles. These are likely what they used.”
Over 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since October 2023, with over 1,000 deaths occurring in the last 11 days alone, when Israeli bombardments against southern Lebanon, the Bekaa, and Beirut's southern suburbs escalated dramatically.