The southern suburbs of Beirut were hit by Israeli attacks during the night, including an area near the international airport, which continues to operate, the Lebanese transport minister said today.
A photographer from Agence France-Presse saw a hangar near the perimeter wall of Beirut airport being hit by an attack.
Lebanese Transport Minister Ali Hamié said on social media that "the airport is operating normally."
"Planes are taking off and landing" without any problems, he told AFP.
The attack caused "minor damage" to the airport buildings, "but did not hit the terminal," said an official who requested anonymity.
The same source added that the attack had affected "the facilities of Middle East Airlines (MEA)," the Lebanese national airline, and in particular those of the company responsible for maintaining the planes.
Abou Elie, a taxi driver, was at the airport at the time of the attack.
"The entire parking lot shook," he told AFP.
MEA is practically the only airline that has continued to operate flights since Israel stepped up attacks on Lebanon in late September.
The attack near the airport came after Hezbollah (Party of God) announced on Wednesday that it was targeting an Israeli military base near Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel's main airport.
Air traffic was not affected.
The nighttime attacks in the southern suburbs of Beirut were preceded by a request from the Israeli army to evacuate four neighborhoods in the Lebanese capital.
"As soon as they sent the evacuation orders, we got in our cars and fled," he told AFP France-Presse Malak Aqil, a resident of Ouzai, a neighborhood near the Lebanese airport.
"We have had to flee our homes several times. Sometimes we sleep in the car. Death has become a matter of luck, we can either die or survive," said Ramzi Zaiter, a resident of Beirut's southern suburbs.
More than 2,600 people have been killed in Lebanon since the escalation between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah began on September 23, most of them civilians, according to Beirut Health Minister Firass Abiad.
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