Israel-Lebanon latest: Israel strikes central Beirut for first time in 18 years as death toll passes 1,000

Israel intensified its military campaign across the Middle East on Monday, striking central Beirut for the first time since 2006.

The attack brings the death toll from Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon to over 1,000 people in the last two weeks, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

In just a few hours this weekend, the number of displaced people in Lebanon surged from 300,000 to nearly one million, said Nasser Yassin, Lebanon’s head of emergency disaster management.

A drone attack also reportedly killed three senior leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a militant group involved in the ongoing conflict with Israel.

Earlier, Israel said it bombed Houthi targets in Yemen, expanding its confrontation with Iran’s allies in the region, in response to Houthi missile attacks on Israel in recent days.

It stoked fears that Middle East fighting could spin out of control and draw in the United States.

On Monday Hamas said its leader in Lebanon had been killed in an Israeli strike. That adds to the seven Hezbollah commanders killed in targeted strikes in the past two weeks, as Israel seeks to wipe out the Iran-backed militia groups’ leadership structures.