People gather at a damaged site in the Zuqaq al-Blat area in Beirut after a deadly Israeli strike [Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters]
Latest attack in central Beirut strikes a building near parliament and several embassies, causing ‘great damage

Beirut, November 19 (RHC)-- Israeli strikes on densely populated central Beirut have killed at least five people in the third attack in two days in the middle of Lebanon’s capital, the Ministry of Public Health says.  “The Israeli enemy strike on Zuqaq al-Blat in Beirut killed five people and injured 24,” a ministry statement said about Monday’s attack.

The official National News Agency (NNA) said an apartment near a Shia Muslim place of worship was targeted. The building is located near the parliament, several embassies and a United Nations building.  “A hostile drone targeted a residential apartment behind the Husseiniya of Zuqaq al-Blat in the capital Beirut, causing great damage,” the NNA said.

The working-class district of Zuqaq al-Blat has welcomed many displaced people who fled Israeli strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs.  Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem, reporting from Beirut, said the area that was hit is “very densely populated” and is packed with cafes.  “At the moment, there is no indication who the target is,” Hashem said.  The area was cordoned off by security forces as residents rushed to help with the rescue efforts.

Monday’s attack took place several hundred metres away from the site of a strike on Sunday in the Mar Elias neighbourhood, which the Health Ministry said killed three people, including a woman.