Israeli strikes kill 22 in Beirut and 27 in Gaza, UN peacekeepers injured – National [Video]

Israeli airstrikes hit different areas of central Beirut on Thursday evening, killing at least 22 people, Lebanon’s health ministry said, leaving two neighborhoods smoldering and further escalating Israel’s bloody conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

The air raid on central Beirut — the deadliest in over a year of war — apparently targeted two residential buildings in separate neighborhoods simultaneously, according to an AP photographer at the scene. It brought down one eight-story building and wiped out the lower floors of the other.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reported strikes. Israeli airstrikes have been far more common in Beirut’s tightly packed southern suburbs, where Hezbollah bases many of its operations.

After the strikes, Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV reported that an attempt to kill Wafiq Safa, a top security official with the group, had failed. It said that Safa had not been inside of either of the targeted buildings.

Thursday’s strikes followed …