A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The U.S. military says all six airmen aboard a refueling plane have been found dead after crashing in Iraq. A total of 13 American troops have now died since the Iran war began. And Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth says today will bring the highest number of U.S. strikes on Iran yet. In Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes hit central Beirut last night as part of a renewed offensive after the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah launched rockets into northern Israel.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
In total, this has been a couple of nights of some of the fiercest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah since the beginning of the war. Israel says it's not going to stop until Hezbollah is completely defeated.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi is in Beirut. Hadeel, what happened last night?
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: So this was the third Israeli strike in central Beirut since the war in Iran began, but last night, it came with the first-ever evacuation order for a part of central Beirut. The Israeli military told people within a 300-yard radius of a building in the Bachura (ph) neighborhood to leave the area. Now, that neighborhood is a busy residential and commercial area about a kilometer from where I am. It's very close to the prime minister's office, the U.N. building and some foreign embassies.
And, you know, ever since I arrived two weeks ago, there's been this constant loud buzz of Israeli drones overhead, but it stopped around 5:30 local time last night. We heard the fighter jets overhead, then a whoosh of a warning strike telling people that the real attacks were coming. Then we heard two big booms, explosions, one after another. Black plumes of smoke rose over the Beirut skyline, and the building targeted was damaged but not destroyed.
MARTÍNEZ: Has Israel said anything about why they carried out this attack?
AL-SHALCHI: So while we know that the Israeli military says it is targeting and killing Hezbollah operatives, we don't know what was being targeted in the building last night. But an official in the region not authorized to speak publicly and speaking on condition of anonymity told NPR the Israeli strike in central Beirut was symbolic, to send a message that Israel will not tolerate Hezbollah's fire much longer.
You know, Hezbollah unleashed its heaviest barrage of rockets on Israel on Wednesday night. The Israeli military estimates that it included 200 rockets. And Iran fired ballistic missiles at the same time. But the Israeli messaging is, look, we're not attacking Lebanese civilian infrastructure, like the electricity grid or the airport, like we've done in previous wars. So we are keeping boundaries with these warning strikes.
Now, Lebanon and Israel, of course, have been at war for decades, don't have formal diplomatic relations, but the Lebanese president has recently called for direct talks with Israel to see an end to this war and has asked the international community repeatedly to help bolster its army to try to disarm Hezbollah, which outguns this state. Israel has not commented publicly yet, but the official told us Israel sees positive signs from the Lebanese government to crack down on Hezbollah. So it wouldn't be too surprising if we do see talks at some point.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. Now, we're seeing how this war is really displacing huge numbers of people, both in Lebanon and Iran.
AL-SHALCHI: So in Lebanon, almost a million people are displaced from south Lebanon and the suburbs in south Beirut, which are both considered to be Hezbollah strongholds but also densely populated with civilians. So Beirut has become even more densely populated as a result, and some of those displaced from the south are being struck again in central Beirut. The war has also killed over 700 people, according to Lebanese officials. And in Iran, the United Nations says up to 3.2 million people have been displaced since the war started, most of them fleeing from Tehran and other major urban areas towards the north of the country to look for safety.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi in Beirut. Thanks for hanging in there and giving us this report.
AL-SHALCHI: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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