Air strikes target guerrilla hideout

ISRAELI air strikes reduced entire apartment buildings to rubble and plunged parts of the Lebanese capital of Beirut into darkness in a ferocious response to a Hezbollah attack.

After yesterday’s attack on Haifa, Israeli warplanes bombarded the guerrilla group’s headquarters in south Beirut again with a barrage of missiles, sending palls of smoke over the crowded residential area. More missiles shook the city in the afternoon, targeting the same area.

Casualties continued to mount. Police and residents said 41 people died in the past 24 hours, nearly all civilians, raising to 148 the five-day death toll in Lebanon. In Israel, 23 have died, including 15 civilians killed by rocket fire.