Fears of a military escalation in the Middle East are growing. On Saturday October 19, a drone was launched towards the private residence of Benjamin Netanyahu in Caesarea, in central Israel, but neither the Prime Minister nor his wife were there, his office said. “Hezbollah, an ally of Iran which attempted to assassinate me and my wife, made a serious mistake,” the prime minister said in a statement. “I say to the Iranians and their partners in the Axis of Evil: anyone who tries to harm the citizens of Israel will pay a high price,” he added.
Information to remember
⇒ Israeli army says it carried out strike on Hezbollah “command center” in Beirut
⇒ An Israeli strike left at least 73 dead in the Gaza Strip, a report disputed by the IDF
⇒ Iran says Hezbollah behind drone attack targeting Netanyahu residence
8:30 a.m.
Two Israeli strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, including one on a Hezbollah “command center”
Two Israeli strikes targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut this Sunday morning, announced the Lebanese news agency ANI. “Enemy aircraft carried out two strikes this morning on the southern suburbs of Beirut, one of which hit an apartment building in Haret Hreik, located near a mosque and a hospital,” the agency said . The Israeli military aviation said in a statement that it had struck “a command center of Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters and an underground weapons manufacturing workshop.”
These strikes were preceded by a call to evacuate launched by Israel to residents of two neighborhoods in the southern suburbs, in anticipation of an attack on two buildings housing, according to the Israeli army, Hezbollah installations. These buildings are located in the Haret Hreik and Hadath Beirut neighborhoods, the army indicated in a message to the population a few hours earlier. “You are close to installations and interests affiliated with Hezbollah, against which the Israel Defense Forces will act in the near future,” she warned, supported by satellite photos of the two buildings. .
6:30 a.m.
Israeli strike kills 73 in Gaza
An Israeli strike left at least 73 dead on Saturday evening in the Gaza Strip, according to the territory’s civil defense. The strike took place in a residential area of Beit Lahia, in the north of the Gaza Strip where the army is leading a new offensive against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
“Civil Defense teams found 73 dead and a large number of injured,” Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesperson, told AFP, adding that people were still under the rubble. The Israeli army affirmed that the assessment given by the Gaza authorities “does not correspond” to the information in its possession, in particular “the ammunition used and the precision of a strike on a Hamas target”.
6:00 a.m.
Israel says around 200 projectiles fired by Hezbollah into its territory
The Israeli army announced that around 200 projectiles were fired Saturday by Hezbollah from Lebanon, where Israel launched a ground offensive against the pro-Iranian movement in the south of the country. At 11 p.m. (8 p.m. local time), “around 200 projectiles fired by the terrorist organization Hezbollah crossed (the border) from Lebanon into Israel today,” the army said in a statement. These projectiles were launched mainly in the north of the country, the warning sirens having sounded all morning in the region.
6:00 a.m.
Iran says Hezbollah behind drone attack on Netanyahu residence
Iran claimed on Saturday that Hezbollah, financially and militarily supported by Tehran, was behind the drone attack which targeted the private residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel. “This action was carried out by Lebanese Hezbollah,” the Iranian mission to the UN said in a short statement, cited by the official Irna news agency. Hezbollah, for its part, made no immediate comment.