The Civil Defense pulled out three bodies from the rubble of a building in Haret Hreik, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, on Friday during a search operation. The searches were taking place in the Ayoub building, which had been targeted by an Israeli strike on Sept. 27, the day that Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah was killed. The Civil Defense statement did not specify whether this building had been destroyed in the same strike.

Civil Defense members were dispatched to the scene to search for seven bodies. The three found were taken to Rafic Hariri Hospital in Beirut, where DNA tests will be carried out to identify them. In its statement, the Civil Defense said that the search is continuing to find the other missing persons.

The southern suburbs of Beirut were one of the areas most heavily pounded by the Israeli air force during the two months of intense war between Israel and Hezbollah, from Sept. 23 to Nov. 27, 2024. Entire neighborhoods were destroyed, sometimes without any warning, as in this strike on Sept. 27.

The war between Israel and Hezbollah began on Oct. 8, 2023, with a support front opened by the party to support Gaza, the day after Hamas's operation in Israel. But the conflict, long confined to south Lebanon, suddenly spread in September to engulf part of Beirut, the south and the Bekaa. It left more than 4,000 dead, thousands injured and damage worth billions of dollars.