The death toll from a rare Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb rises to 31

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — The death toll from an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb has risen to 31, including seven women and three children, Lebanon's health minister said on Saturday.

Firass Abiad told reporters 68 people were also wounded of whom 15 remain in hospital, adding that search and rescue operations were still ongoing, with the number of casualties likely to rise.

The rare strike — the deadliest targeting the Lebanese capital since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war — hit a densely populated southern neighborhood on Friday afternoon during rush hour as people returned home. Israel said it killed 11 Hezbollah operatives, including Ibrahim Akil who was in charge of the group’s elite Radwan Force. The militant group members were in a meeting in the basement of the building that was destroyed.

Hezbollah announced overnight Friday that 15 of its operatives were killed by Israeli forces, but did not elaborate on the location of these deaths.

Lebanese troops cordoned off the area preventing people from reaching the building that was knocked down as members of the Lebanese Red Cross stood nearby to take any recovered body from under the rubble. On Saturday morning, Hezbollah’s media office took journalists on a tour of the scene of the airstrike where workers were still digging through the rubble.

The Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamie told reporters at the scene that 23 people are still missing.

The airstrike on the crowded Qaim street knocked out an eight-story building that had 16 apartments and damaged another one adjacent to it. The missiles destroyed the first building and cut through the basement of the second where the meeting of Hezbollah officials was being held, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene.

In a nearby building, shops were badly damaged including one that sold clothes and had a sign in English that read: “DRESS LIKE YOU’RE ALREADY FAMOUS.”

Friday's deadly strike came hours after Hezbollah launched one of its most intense bombardments of northern Israel in nearly a year of fighting, largely targeting Israeli military sites. Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted most of the Katyusha rockets.

The militant group said its latest wave of rocket salvos was a response to past Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon. However, it came days after mass explosions of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies killed at least 37 people — including two children. Some 2,900 others were wounded in the assault which has been widely attributed to Israel.

The Lebanese health minister said Saturday hospitals across the country were filled with the wounded.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the attack which marked a major escalation in the past 11 months of simmering conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire regularly since Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel ignited the Israeli military’s devastating offensive in Gaza. But previous cross-border attacks have largely struck areas in northern Israel that had been evacuated and less-populated parts of southern Lebanon.

Earlier this week, Israel’s security cabinet said stopping Hezbollah’s attacks in the country’s north to allow residents to return to their homes is now an official war goal, as it considers a wider military operation in Lebanon that could spark an all-out conflict. Israel has since sent a powerful fighting force to the northern border.

The tit-for-tat strikes have forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes in both southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Saturday that five of its workers were killed, and five others injured, by Israeli fire that struck the ministry’s warehouses in the southern Musbah area.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has already killed at least 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between fighters and civilians.

—

Associated Press writer Jack Jeffery in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Emergency workers use excavators to clear the rubble at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Emergency workers clear the rubble at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A damaged building at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Emergency workers use an excavator to clear the rubble at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Civil defense workers extinguish a fire as smoke rises from the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Emergency workers use excavators to clear the rubble at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A man reacts as he speaks on the phone near the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Rescuers clear the rubble as they look for survivors at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Damaged cars at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Relatives of the victims react near the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Lebanese soldiers secure the area a day after an Israeli missile strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Rescuers at the scene a day after an Israeli missile strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A Lebanese soldier walks near an ambulance an a firefighter truck, securing the area a day after an Israeli missile strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Lebanese soldiers secure the area a day after an Israeli missile strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Emergency workers use excavators to clear the rubble at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Voting has ended Saturday in Sri Lanka's presidential election as the country seeks to recover from the worst economic crisis in its history and the resulting political upheaval.

The election, contested by 38 candidates, is largely a three-way race among incumbent liberal President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Marxist-leaning lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake, and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa.

There are 17 million eligible voters, and final results are expected Sunday.

The results will show whether Sri Lankans approve of Wickremesinghe's leadership of a fragile recovery, including restructuring Sri Lanka's debt under an International Monetary Fund program after it defaulted in 2022.

The government announced Thursday that it passed the final hurdle in debt restructuring by reaching an agreement in principle with private bond holders.

Sri Lanka’s local and foreign debt totaled $83 billion at the time it defaulted, and the government says it has now restructured more than $17 billion.

Despite a significant improvement in key economic figures, Sri Lankans are struggling under high taxes and living costs.

Both Premadasa and Dissanayake say they will renegotiate the IMF deal to make austerity measures more bearable. Wickremesinghe has warned that any move to alter the basics of the agreement could delay the release of a fourth tranche of nearly $3 billion in assistance pledged by the IMF that's crucial to maintaining stability.

Most Sri Lankans voted with the economy in mind, hoping a new government will lead the way out crisis and end entrenched corruption.

“I think corruption is one of the main reasons that led the country to the present pathetic condition. So, the next leader should pay attention to eliminate corruption and start building the country,” said Chandrakumar Suriyaarachchi, a driver who voted in Saturday's election. "Our children deserve a better life.”

Political experts say widespread disenchantment with the political old guard — widely blamed for Sri Lanka's economic instability — could mean no single candidate is able to secure 50% of votes as a first preference. In that scenario, the top two candidates move to a second round of counting that takes into account second-choice votes.

There are concerns that if a clear winner fails to emerge, the island nation could plunge into more instability.

Voter Visaka Dissanayake said he hopes Sri Lanka votes for a “strong leader, who will set the path for economic recovery."

“We have now come out of a very difficult situation. So, I hope the economic recovery will continue,” Dissanayake said.

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis resulted largely from excessive borrowing on projects that did not generate revenue. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s insistence on using scarce foreign reserves to prop up the currency, the rupee, contributed to the economy’s free fall.

The economic collapse brought a severe shortage of essentials such as medicine, food, cooking gas and fuel, with people spending days waiting in line to obtain them. It led to rioting in which protesters took over key buildings including the president’s house, his office and the prime minister’s office, forcing then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and resign.

Wickremesinghe was elected by a parliamentary vote in July 2022 to cover the remainder of Rajapaksa’s five-year term. Now, Wickremesinghe is seeking another term to strengthen the gains.

However, many people accuse him of protecting members of the Rajapaksa family, whom they blame for the economic crisis.

Wickremesinghe, who was the only member of his party in Parliament, was elected mainly with the votes of Rajapaksa loyalists. They also supported him as members of his Cabinet and in voting for the reforms he proposed.

Associated Press video journalist Rishi Lekhi contributed to this report.

Polling officers set up their booth in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

A police officer stands guard as polling officers set up their booth in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

People wait in a queue to casts their votes at a polling station in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

People wait in a queue to casts their votes at a polling station in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Sri Lankan president and independent presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe shows indelible mark on his baby finger after casting his vote, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Sri Lankan president and independent presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe reacts after casting his vote, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Sri Lankan president and independent presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe arrives to cast his vote in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Sri Lankan police officer stands guard as voters queue to cast their vote at a polling center for presidential election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Sri Lankan police officer stands guard as voters queue to cast their vote at a polling center for presidential election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Sri Lankan show their baby fingers marked with an indelible ink after casting their vote at a polling center for presidential election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

A person shows indelible mark on his finger after casting his vote in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardane)

People stand in a queue to cast their votes in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardane)

Election officials leave a distribution center after collecting polling material for the upcoming presidential election, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Police officers wait for transport to travel to polling stations ahead of the upcoming presidential election, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

A police officer stands guard outside a polling material distribution center ahead of the presidential election, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Sri Lanka's opposition leader and presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa speaks to his supporters during a public rally in Thalawakele, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Leader and the presidential candidate of National People's Power Anura Kumara Dissanayake speaks to supporters during the final public rally ahead of the election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Sri Lanka's president Ranil Wickremesinghe speaks during a public rally in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Women election officials walk past security personnel outside a distribution center before collecting polling materials for the upcoming presidential election, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)