Israel launches fresh strike on south Beirut

An Israeli airstrike damaged the third storey on an apartment building in the Lebanese city of Sidon, reportedly killing one person (MAHMOUD ZAYYAT)Israel launched a fresh strike on Beirut's southern suburbs late Sunday as Israel's military said it was striking Hezbollah infrastructure in the city following earlier raids mainly in the country's south.The midnight strike, heard by AFP correspondents in the capital, came after a morning Israel army evacuation warning for Beirut's southern suburbs, which Israel has repeatedly struck in the past fortnight.Shortly after the raid, the Israeli military said on social media that it was "currently striking Hezbollah terror infrastructure in Beirut".On Sunday morning, an AFP photographer in south Beirut had seen empty streets covered with debris and buildings flattened, with smoke still rising in the area after strikes in previous days.Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war on March 2 when Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes, with Israel launching air raids on the neighbouring country and troop incursions into border areas.Lebanese authorities said the death toll in Israeli attacks rose to 850, while more than 830,000 people have registered as displaced, including some 130,000 staying in collective shelters.Driving rain on Sunday piled more misery on displaced people, hundreds of whom have been sleeping rough or in tents near central Beirut's seafront.Coffee shop owner Nader, 42, displaced from Beirut's southern suburbs, said he had rebuilt his home after the previous Israel-Hezbollah conflict in 2024 and feared it had again been destroyed."Here we have nothing and the situation is very bad with the heavy rains and wind -- it's very cold, lots of babies are sick and we can't protect them," he told AFP.- 'No' talks -The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said its peacekeepers were fired upon three times on Sunday, "likely by non-state armed groups" in the country's south, two days after a different position was hit by fire that Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) had attributed to Israel.Israel said no direct talks were planned with Lebanon to end the latest war with militant group Hezbollah, which has been raging for two weeks. The statement came a day after a Lebanese official said Beirut was preparing a delegation to negotiate with Israel.The NNA reported Israeli strikes on the country's south and east on Sunday, while Hezbollah claimed a series of attacks on sites in Israel and on Israeli troops in south Lebanon.The group also said its fighters fired an "advanced missile" at the Palmachim air base south of Tel Aviv.The NNA said Israel struck "an apartment in a residential building" in a northern district of the coastal city of Sidon, killing one person and causing a fire.An AFP correspondent saw damage to an apartment building as the army cordoned off the area while rescue teams fought a blaze and residents rushed into the street, some carrying belongings.A Hamas source told AFP on condition of anonymity that the strike killed Wissam Taha, an official from the Palestinian militant group.Israel has repeatedly struck Hamas targets in Lebanon in recent years, including during previous hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah that erupted over the Gaza war, and after a 2024 ceasefire.Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has proposed direct negotiations with Israel, but Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday responded "no" when asked whether Israel was set to hold such talks.- Maritime border deal -Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen instead called for the cancellation of a US-brokered 2022 maritime border deal with Lebanon, adding that "a vague promise" of improved security for Israel under the deal "was not fulfilled".A Lebanese official had told AFP on Saturday that the country was preparing to form a delegation to negotiate with Israel but that there was no agenda, timing or location yet decided for any talks.French President Emmanuel Macron has said the Lebanese government was ready to engage in "direct talks" with Israel and he offered to host negotiations.Southeast of Sidon, Lebanon's health ministry said an overnight strike killed five people in the village of Al-Qatrani, raising an earlier toll of three dead, while Israel's military said it hit "several Hezbollah launch sites" there.The Israeli army also said it had destroyed "command centres" belonging to Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force in Beirut.lk-cab-lg/rlp