Airstrike hits apartment in Beirut city centre – as minister warns Lebanon on ‘verge of catastrophe’
An apparent Israeli airstrike has hit an apartment building in central Beirut in what is believed to be the first attack in the centre of Lebanon’s capital city since the current conflict with Hezbollah began.
The residential neighbourhood in the Kola district – a major transportation hub – was hit early on Monday morning with images released by the Associated Press from the scene showing damage to buildings and emergency services gathered outside.
Palestinian militant group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – which is taking part in the fight against Israel and promotes a one-state solution to the conflict – claimed the strike killed three of its leaders.
A Lebanese civil defence official said at least one person was killed in the strike and 16 people were injured.
Lebanon ‘on verge of catastrophe’; follow Middle East latest
The Israeli military has not commented or confirmed it was behind the attack.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese health ministry claimed at least 105 people had been killed across the country in separate airstrikes on Sunday.
The scene after an apparent Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s city centre. Pic: AP
It claimed two attacks near the southern city of Sidon, about 28 miles south of Beirut, killed at least 32, and separate attacks in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed a further 21 and injured at least 47.
A further 11 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the northeastern Lebanese village of al Ain, according to Lebanon’s state news agency.
Six of the bodies were recovered but rescuers are still searching the rubble of the destroyed home for the remaining five, it added.
Personnel inspect damage after strike. Pic: AP
They are among the rough estimates from the Lebanese health ministry that say 1,000 have been killed and 6,000 wounded as a result of Israeli airstrikes in the past two weeks.
The intensifying Israeli bombardment over the past couple of weeks has killed a string of top Hezbollah officials, including its leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Medical and security sources said over the weekend that Nasrallah’s body was found “intact” in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh – where senior members of the militant group were gathered.
Pic: AP
He was found with no direct wounds and is believed to have died from the blunt trauma of the explosion.
Hezbollah confirmed senior official Ali Karaki was also killed in Friday’s strike.
Footage from the site – a residential area of the Lebanese capital – shows a huge crater between high-rise buildings.
The site of Israel’s Friday airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Pic: Reuters
Damage at the site of Friday’s airstrike in Beirut. Pic: Reuters
‘Verge of coming to catastrophe’
The number of displaced people across the country has increased from 300,000 to almost a million in a matter of hours, Nasser Yassin, Lebanon’s head of emergency disaster management, said.
He told Sky News’ special correspondent Alex Crawford that despite hundreds of shelters being opened, Lebanon is “in a very critical moment”.
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Displaced people flock to Beirut mosque
“We don’t want this to collapse fully, but we are on the verge of coming to a catastrophic humanitarian situation,” he said.
Lebanon has one of the largest refugee populations per capita in the world – with 1.5 million Syrian refugees and 2,500 Palestinians – to a population of around 3.5 million.
In its first statement since Nasrallah’s death, the Lebanese military called for calm at “this dangerous and delicate stage” of the conflict.
Displaced people in southern Beirut following strikes this weekend. Pic: Reuters
But both Israel and Hezbollah continued to launch attacks on Sunday.
Israel also launched airstrikes against the Houthi militant group in Yemen – which is part of an Iran-aligned regional alliance, alongside Hamas and Hezbollah.
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The Houthi-run health ministry said at least four people were killed and 29 wounded in airstrikes on the country’s port of Hodeidah.
Israel claimed the strikes were a response to Houthi missile attacks.
Donald Trump has threatened Russia with more sanctions after a series of deadly strikes across Ukraine, as he said of Vladimir Putin: “What the hell happened to him?”
The US president appeared aghast at the conduct of his counterpart in the Kremlin after drone and missile attacks in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities left 12 people dead and dozens more injured.
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Speaking to reporters at an airport in New Jersey ahead of a flight back to Washington, Mr Trump said: “I’m not happy with Putin. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
“He’s killing a lot of people,” he added. “I’m not happy about that.”
Mr Trump – who said he’s “always gotten along with” Mr Putin – told reporters he would consider more sanctions against Moscow.
“He’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” he said.
Ukraine said the barrage of strikes overnight into Sunday was the biggest aerial attack of the war so far, with 367 drones and missiles fired by Russian forces.
It came despite Mr Trump repeatedly talking up the chances of a peace agreement. He even spoke to Mr Putin on the phone for two hours last week.
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Hundreds of drones fired at Ukraine
‘Shameful’ attacks
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is ready to sign a ceasefire deal, and suggested Russia isn’t serious about signing one.
In a statement after the latest attacks on his country, he urged the US and other national leaders to increase the pressure on Mr Putin, saying silence “only encourages” him.
Mr Trump’s envoy for the country, Keith Kellogg, later demanded a ceasefire, describing the Russian attacks as “shameful”.
Three children were among those killed in the attacks, explosions shaking the cities of Kyiv, Odesa, and Mykolaiv.
Ukrainian siblings Tamara, 12, Stanislav, eight, and Roman, 17, were killed in Russian airstrikes. Pic: X/@Mariana_Betsa
Before the onslaught, Russia said it had faced a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday. It said around 100 were intercepted and destroyed near Moscow and in central and southern regions.
The violence has escalated despite Russia and Ukraine completing the exchange of 1,000 prisoners each over the past three days.
Donald Trump says he will delay the imposition of 50% tariffs on goods entering the United States from the European Union until July, as the two sides attempt to negotiate a trade deal.
It comes after the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a post on social media site X that she had spoken to Mr Trump and expressed that they needed until 9 July to “reach a good deal”.
The US president had last Friday threatened to bring in the 50% tariffs from 1 June, as European leaders said they were ready to respond with their own measures.
But Mr Trump has now said that date has been put back to 9 July to allow more time for negotiations with the 27-member bloc, with the phone call appearing to smooth over tensions for now at least.
Speaking on Sunday before boarding Air Force One for Washington DC, Mr Trump told reporters that he had spoken to Ms Von der Leyen and she “wants to get down to serious negotiations” and she vowed to “rapidly get together and see if we can work something out”.
The US president, in comments on his Truth Social platform, had reignited fears last Friday of a trade war between the two powers when he said talks were “going nowhere” and the bloc was “very difficult to deal with”.
Mr Trump told the media in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday that Ms Von der Leyen “just called me… and she asked for an extension in the June 1st date. And she said she wants to get down to serious negotiation”.
“We had a very nice call and I agreed to move it. I believe July 9th would be the date. That was the date she requested. She said we will rapidly get together and see if we can work something out,” the US president added.
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Shortly after, he wrote on Truth Social: “I agreed to the extension – July 9, 2025 – It was my privilege to do so.”
On his so-called “liberation day” last month, Mr Trump unleashed tariffs on many of America’s trade partners. But since then he’s backed down in a spiralling tit-for-tat tariff face-off with China, and struck a deal with the UK.
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Much of his most incendiary rhetoric on trade has been directed at Brussels, though, even going as far as to claim the EU was created to rip the US off.
Responding to his 50% tariff threat, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said: “EU-US trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect, not threats.
“We stand ready to defend our interests.”
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