SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
An Israeli strike leveled an apartment building in Beirut this week. More than 20 people were killed, dozens injured. Israel and the militant group Hezbollah have been exchanging fires since the war in Gaza began, but this strike was one of the deadliest so far in central Beirut. NPR's Jane Arraf was at the site of the strike and joins us from Beirut. Jane, thanks for being with us.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: Thank you, Scott.
SIMON: What did you see in this neighborhood?
ARRAF: It's a neighborhood called Basta, and it's a mixed Shia and Sunni Muslim neighborhood, densely packed, three- or four-story concrete apartment buildings, little shops on the ground floor.
(SOUNDBITE OF BULLDOZERS RUNNING)
ARRAF: The morning after the strike, there were bulldozers clearing the rubble from a huge crater and dazed-looking families still looking for missing relatives wandering through. The building dust had turned the trees gray. There was the constant sound of drones overhead. We spoke with one of the volunteer first responders, Ali Ibrahim (ph), a premed student, who arrived just after the air strike.
ALI IBRAHIM: It was an absolutely sad image. In the first hour, there was fire. There was a lot of people that - all blood on them. With my eye, I saw people that are dead.
ARRAF: He said the dead included women and young children. Casualties were much higher than they would have been because of the number of displaced people crammed into each apartment.
SIMON: Jane, what is known about the intended target?
ARRAF: Well, the Israeli military wouldn't comment on who or what it was targeting. Generally, Israel has said its strikes in Lebanon are targeting Hezbollah. Neighborhood residents said there was no warning of the strike. In some other attacks, Israel has given warnings, with very short notice, for civilians to evacuate, but not this one.
SIMON: Jane, and what's known about Lebanon's border with Israel? The U.N. says that Israel has repeatedly fired on U.N. peacekeepers there.
ARRAF: Yeah, it's quite extraordinary. UNIFIL, which has 10,000 soldiers from 50 countries, has been monitoring the de facto border between Lebanon and Israel. Israeli forces invaded Lebanon two weeks ago and told UNIFIL to move its positions back from the cease-fire line. Well, the whole reason for UNIFIL's being there is to be at the border to act as a deterrent. Here's what UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti told us.
ANDREA TENENTI: The decision was taken by the U.N., by all the troop contributing countries to stay, to have the U.N. flag flying in all these areas where we have been since 2006 and trying to de-escalate the current tensions.
ARRAF: So the incidents include Israel positioning tanks just a few yards away from U.N. peacekeepers opening fire on a UNIFIL observation tower, collapsing that tower. Israel says it was targeting Hezbollah nearby. At least four U.N. soldiers were injured in the attacks.
SIMON: And, Jane Arraf, this is happening as Israel is possibly preparing to retaliate against Iran for its missile attack earlier this month.
ARRAF: Yeah. The fear has always been that the parties involved would get locked into a cycle of retaliation that would be really difficult to stop. And, Scott, that seems to be what's happening here. That Iranian missile strike was itself retaliation for attacks, including an Israeli assassination in the Iranian capital on the political leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas. Iran described its response as self-defense.
SIMON: And, of course, Lebanon is in the midst of an economic crisis with the caretaker government, and now more than a million people have been displaced because of this conflict. What's the humanitarian situation there in Lebanon?
ARRAF: It's alarming. This is not a country that can cope with this. Almost 1,000 schools have been turned into shelters, and those aren't nearly enough. We went to one school in Beirut, where restaurants and different organizations have joined together to bring meals to the displaced.
There are families...
(SOUNDBITE OF DISHES CLANKING)
HAIDAR AL AKHDAR: I'm serving rice and traditional Lebanese food called moghrabieh. It's like chicken with some broth, and it's really yummy. It's very famous.
(CROSSTALK)
ARRAF: This is all a temporary solution. That was Haidar al Akhdar (ph) from Barza restaurant, who was dishing out lunch to that crowd of people. And this solution that we're talking about - schools turned into shelters, restaurants closing to prepare meals for the displaced - all supposed to be a temporary solution. But the problem is this ever-escalating conflict doesn't feel temporary.
SIMON: NPR's Jane Arraf in Beirut. Thanks so much.
ARRAF: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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