JERUSALEM: Apartment buildings in at least three densely populated neighbourhoods in the heart of Beirut, gas stations in southern Lebanon, bridges and other infrastructure were hit by Israeli air strikes on Wednesday, leaving at least 12 people dead including a TV channel director.

In Bashoura, a whole building collapsed into a mound of rubble after being struck.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency said a strike had hit an apartment in the central Zuqaq al-Blat neighbourhood, a densely populated area, close to the government’s headquarters and several embassies.

Two other strikes targeted two apartments in the central Basta district, another heavily populated area that Israel struck during a 2024 war with Hezbollah.

Emergency workers at the scene in Basta where the walls of apartments on two adjacent floors appeared to have been blasted off by Israeli bombing.

Tel Aviv’s bombing of Lebanon has killed 968 people and displaced one million from their homes

Another strike hit Zuqaq al-Blat later in the morning, where people were seen clearing dust and glass from cars and the streets. Al Manar TV said the director of its political programmes, Mohammad Sherri, had been killed along with his wife in one of the strikes in Zuqaq al-Blat.

“It was at 4am. We were asleep,” said Sara Saleh, a 29-year-old woman displaced from Beirut’s southern suburbs, where hundreds of thousands of people live. She said she and her family fled a school they were sheltering in nearby.

Lebanon’s health ministry reported a preliminary toll for strikes on both areas of 12 dead and 41 wounded, adding that efforts were underway to identify those killed. The authorities said Israeli strikes have killed at least 912 people since March 2, while more than a million people have registered as displaced.

In last week’s strike on the area, the Israeli military had told people to evacuate, but no such warning was given before the latest raid.

On Wednesday, the strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, which Israel has pounded since the start of the war, and towns and villages across south Lebanon.

Bridges destroyed

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said that the military struck and destroyed two additional bridges over Lebanon’s Litani River, saying they were used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons. He did not specify where the bridges were located.

“This is a clear message to the Lebanese government, Israel will not allow Hezbollah to use Lebanese state infrastructure,” he said.

Gas stations targeted

“Overnight, the IDF struck Al-Amana Fuel Company gas stations in southern Lebanon,” the Israeli military said.

A map shared with the statement showed the locations of five gas stations the military said it struck, all in Lebanon’s south, including two near the country’s Mediterranean coast.

The Israeli statement alleged the Al-Amana fuel company “constitutes fundamental economic infrastructure that supports Hezbollah’s military capabilities”.

Since the war with Iran broke out, Israel has also bombed Al-Qard al-Hassan, a financial firm with alleged links to Hezbollah.

The interest-free lender, which also faces US sanctions, is a lifeline for the communities battling a years-long financial crisis that has locked Lebanese out of their bank deposits.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2026