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Scores Killed, Injured in Israeli Strikes in Central Beirut

A firefighter walks past rubble at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's Bashoura neighborhood on March 18, 2026. (Photo by Ibrahim AMRO / AFP)
A firefighter walks past rubble at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's Bashoura neighborhood on March 18, 2026. (Photo by Ibrahim AMRO / AFP)
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Scores Killed, Injured in Israeli Strikes in Central Beirut

A firefighter walks past rubble at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's Bashoura neighborhood on March 18, 2026. (Photo by Ibrahim AMRO / AFP)
A firefighter walks past rubble at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's Bashoura neighborhood on March 18, 2026. (Photo by Ibrahim AMRO / AFP)

Dozens of people were killed and injured on Wednesday when Israel carried out several strikes on apartments in Beirut.

After issuing an evacuation warning, an Israeli airstrike struck an apartment building in Bashoura, central Beirut, completely flattening it as day broke.

There were two earlier strikes on residential apartments in other central Beirut neighborhoods.

During rush hour, a new Israeli strike hit central Beirut's Zuqaq al-Blat neighborhood, state media reported.

A blast was heard throughout the capital, and plumes of smoke were seen rising from the area.

Hezbollah's Al Manar TV said Mohammad Sherri, the director of one of its programmes, had been killed along with his wife in one of the strikes in Zuqaq al-Blat.

Lebanese authorities reported a death toll of at least 12 in the central Beirut strikes. Another 41 people were wounded.

Israeli strikes targeting central Beirut have become increasingly frequent in recent days, with or without prior warning. The attacks have hit far from the city’s southern suburbs, for which the army issued evacuation notices early in the war with Hezbollah.

 

Firefighters spray water on a burning residential building following an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

 

Also Wednesday, the state-run National News Agency reported strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Furthermore, the Israeli military said it had "begun striking Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon" including in the Tyre area, where the NNA reported at least four strikes including on a house.

The Israeli military issued another warning on Wednesday, signaling imminent strikes on four towns in the Tyre area and near the border.

Late Tuesday, Israel's army had issued an evacuation order for most of the southern city of Tyre as well as swathes of surrounding areas, saying it planned to "act forcefully" against Hezbollah.

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Arab World

Lebanon Parliament to Discuss Sweeping Amnesty Bill

A general view shows the parliament building, ahead of the parliamentary election, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon May 12, 2022. (Reuters)
A general view shows the parliament building, ahead of the parliamentary election, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon May 12, 2022. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Parliament to Discuss Sweeping Amnesty Bill

A general view shows the parliament building, ahead of the parliamentary election, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon May 12, 2022. (Reuters)
A general view shows the parliament building, ahead of the parliamentary election, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon May 12, 2022. (Reuters)

Lebanon's parliament commenced a legislative session on Wednesday to discuss and vote on several bills, including an amnesty law that could cover swathes of prisoners.

More than 40 draft laws will be discussed and voted on in the two-day session, the most prominent being the abolition of the death penalty, which has not been carried out in years, and the amnesty.

For years, parliament has been trying to pass a general amnesty bill, whose primary goal is to reduce overcrowding in Lebanon's prisons, without gaining consensus due to sectarian and political divisions regarding who would benefit from it.

Amnesty has been a demand for families of Islamist prisoners, some of them accused of attacking the Lebanese army, participating in clashes in the northern city of Tripoli and planning bombings.

Thousands of families from the eastern Baalbek and Hermel regions, bastions of Hezbollah and its ally Amal where illicit cannabis cultivation is widespread, have also been demanding amnesty for drug-related offences and theft.

Relatives of those who fled to Israel after its withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, fearing reprisals, particularly from Hezbollah and its supporters, also want their family members covered.

Lebanon previously passed a general amnesty law in the wake of its 1975-90 civil war, allowing former warlords to transition into politics without facing trial for crimes committed during the conflict.

Parliament will also vote on the abolition of the death penalty, last carried out in Lebanon in 2004.

Capital punishment prevents Lebanon from extraditing criminals who have fled to countries that have abolished the penalty.

Wednesday's legislative session is the first held by parliament since it postponed elections by two years in March due to the Israel-Hezbollah war.

Arab World

UN Says Sudan Resources Fuel Civil War

FILE PHOTO: A displaced Sudanese mother of five, including her child, prepares food at a camp shelter amid the ongoing conflict between the RSF and the Sudanese army, in Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan, July 30, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Jamal/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A displaced Sudanese mother of five, including her child, prepares food at a camp shelter amid the ongoing conflict between the RSF and the Sudanese army, in Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan, July 30, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Jamal/File Photo
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UN Says Sudan Resources Fuel Civil War

FILE PHOTO: A displaced Sudanese mother of five, including her child, prepares food at a camp shelter amid the ongoing conflict between the RSF and the Sudanese army, in Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan, July 30, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Jamal/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A displaced Sudanese mother of five, including her child, prepares food at a camp shelter amid the ongoing conflict between the RSF and the Sudanese army, in Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan, July 30, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Jamal/File Photo

Sudan's rival factions are profiting from control over the country's resources and the "war economy" was sustaining the conflict, the United Nations said Wednesday.

To fund the growing cost of military operations, the two sides rely on exploiting territory, trade routes, and commodities, contributing to a conflict that has become "increasingly self-perpetuating", said the UN human rights office OHCHR.

The war between Sudan's regular army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), that erupted in April 2023, has killed 200,000 people by some estimates and displaced upwards of 11 million.

Several areas of Sudan have been plunged into hunger and famine.

OHCHR called on the two sides, and corporations involved in collecting and selling Sudanese commodities, to ensure compliance with international law.

"Sudan's vast wealth of natural resources should benefit its people," said UN rights chief Volker Turk.

"Distressingly, what we are seeing today is anything but that. In fact, this wealth is only serving to undermine human rights and drive conflict, bringing pain and suffering on an enormous scale.

"This war economy must be disrupted, and the international community must pay much closer attention to the commodities and trade routes that help keep it alive."

OHCHR issued a report focusing on the trade in gum arabic -- a key ingredient in products ranging from soft drinks, to cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

Sudan accounted for 70-80 percent of global crude gum arabic exports before the war.

Although modest in export value compared with other commodities, it is an important income source for millions of Sudanese, and remains one of the country's most internationally relied-upon exports.

The report found that many who depend on the gum arabic trade have faced looting, extortion, arbitrary detention and threats -- particularly at the hands of the parties to the conflict and their allies.

In May 2025, for instance, the Gum Arabic Exchange and its warehouses, plus part of the local market in El-Nuhud in West Kordofan state, were reportedly looted by the RSF when stocks were full and ready for export.

This severely disrupted local trade and livelihoods, the report said.

OHCHR said that Sudan's gum arabic trade had been reshaped by the fragmentation of the country since the war started.

Gum arabic from areas controlled by the armed forces goes towards Port Sudan for export, while significant quantities from RSF-controlled areas have been redirected to neighboring countries via cross-border smuggling routes.

The report said this may then be treated and traded as locally-produced, making its origin hard to verify.

According to AFP, Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, urged countries and companies linked to trade in Sudanese commodities, including gum arabic, to ensure their business was not fueling the conflict or damaging human rights.

He urged countries to strengthen accountability, traceability and regulatory oversight and respect human rights.

"Companies cannot continue business as usual when sourcing from conflict-affected value chains," Turk said.

Arab World

Israel Kills Four People in Gaza, Including a Child, Medics Say

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza City, 12 July 2026. (EPA)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza City, 12 July 2026. (EPA)
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Israel Kills Four People in Gaza, Including a Child, Medics Say

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza City, 12 July 2026. (EPA)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza City, 12 July 2026. (EPA)

An Israeli airstrike killed a man, his wife and their six-year-old daughter in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Palestinian health officials said as talks to advance the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal faltered.

The strike on an apartment building in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza killed Omar Abu Qassem, his wife, Asma, and their daughter, Habeeba, medics said. Their son survived, but was injured, medics said.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted a Hamas fighter.

In Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, an Israeli airstrike killed one person, medics said.

The Israeli military didn't immediately comment on this incident.

The deaths add to a toll of more than 1,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed by Israeli attacks since an October ceasefire between ‌Israel and Hamas ‌to end the war took effect, according to health officials in the ‌enclave. ⁠Hamas doesn't usually disclose ⁠information about its fatalities.

The truce halted major fighting, but has failed to stop near-daily Israeli strikes. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed by fighters in Gaza over the same period.

CEASEFIRE FALTERS

The latest violence comes as Hamas leaders wrapped up another round of truce talks in Cairo on Tuesday.

The discussions — mediated by Egypt, Türkiye and Qatar — were aimed at implementing the second phase of US President Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan.

The talks included the disarmament of Hamas and the Israeli military's withdrawal from the strip, according to sources ⁠close to the talks, who said there had been little progress amid deep distrust ‌between the two sides.

The second phase also includes allowing ‌a US-backed Palestinian technocratic committee to assume power from Hamas, the deployment of an international security force, and the ‌start of the reconstruction of Gaza, which has been devastated by the war.

Five countries — Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, ‌Kosovo and Albania — have committed to providing troops to the US-backed International Stabilization Force. However, none have yet been deployed as negotiations between Trump's Board of Peace and Hamas have stalled for months.

Speaking at an aid donor meeting in Brussels on Monday, Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, said he would be visiting Morocco on ‌Tuesday to "sign Morocco's contribution to the International Stabilization Force, and soon we hope to see them on the ground undertaking their tasks."

Mladenov said the ⁠October ceasefire was holding ⁠but "imperfectly" with violations continuing, adding that Hamas has yet to agree to what he called a "roadmap" for negotiations.

Hamas official Basem Naim accused Mladenov of supporting Israel’s position in negotiations, and failing to hold the country accountable for violating the ceasefire and not upholding the terms of the first phase of the Trump plan.

The plan called for Israel to withdraw its troops to a demarcated "yellow" line, but Israel has been slowly moving its troops forward and now effectively occupies more than 60% of the strip.

Hamas has repeatedly said that it cannot advance to the second phase of the peace plan until the terms of the first phase are fulfilled.

Nearly all of Gaza's 2 million people, most of whom have been displaced several times, now live on a tiny strip of land along the coast, mainly in makeshift tents or damaged buildings, under Hamas control.

Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people during their cross-border attack into Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli tallies. The Gazan health ministry said Israel’s subsequent offensive on the strip killed more than 73,000 Palestinians.