This is a new blow to the Lebanese Islamist movement after the explosions of its transmission devices. Hezbollah announced this Saturday, September 21, the death of two of its leaders in the Israeli strike the day before near Beirut, which killed 16 members of its elite force. “Very concerned”, the UN called on Friday for “de-escalation” and “maximum restraint”, at a time when the front of the war in the Gaza Strip is moving towards Lebanon.
Key information to remember
⇒ Israeli army continues to bomb Hezbollah sites in Lebanon
⇒ Hezbollah announces the death of a second commander in the Israeli strike the day before
⇒ Pagers trapped: at the UN, Lebanon accuses Israel of “terrorism”
Lebanon: Israeli army announces new strikes on Hezbollah sites
“The Israeli army is currently striking sites belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon,” it said in a statement on Saturday, adding that at least 16 Hezbollah fighters were killed in Friday’s strike in Beirut.
Gaza: Civil Defense reports 17 dead in strike on school hosting displaced people
The Gaza Civil Defense said on Saturday that an Israeli strike on a school hosting displaced people in Gaza City had killed 17 people, with the Israeli army indicating that it had targeted fighters from the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “At least 17 martyrs including eight children, and more than 30 wounded, mostly children and women […] “following an Israeli rocket attack on Al-Zaytoun C school,” said Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal, adding that thousands of people displaced by the war had taken refuge in the school.
Lebanon: 31 dead in Israeli strike near Beirut
The Israeli strike on Friday on the southern suburbs of Beirut left 31 dead and 68 wounded, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad announced at a press conference on Saturday. “The death toll stands at 31,” including “three children and seven women,” the minister said the day after the strike targeted a basement meeting of the command of Hezbollah’s elite force, the al-Radwan unit, killing 16 of its members.
Hezbollah announces second commander killed in strike
Hezbollah announced on Saturday the death of a second senior commander in the Israeli strike carried out the day before on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of the Lebanese movement. The pro-Iranian group claimed that Ahmed Mahmoud Wahbi had led until the beginning of this year the military operations of its elite Radwan unit in support of the Palestinian Hamas, at war with Israel in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Sixteen Hezbollah fighters died in Friday’s strike, the most important of whom was the head of the Radwan unit, Ibrahim Aqil.
Pagers trapped: at the UN, Lebanon accuses Israel of “terrorism”
The simultaneous explosions of pagers and other communications devices in Lebanon this week are “simply terrorism,” Lebanon’s foreign minister charged Friday, calling Israel a “rogue state.”
“Remotely detonating communications devices in a collective manner, without any regard for those who carry them or who are around is a method of warfare unprecedented in its brutality and terror, targeting thousands of people of different ages going about their business in their homes, in the street, at work, in shopping malls, is simply terrorism,” Abdallah Bou Habib told the UN Security Council.
Hamas condemns Israeli strike on Beirut
Hamas on Friday condemned the Israeli strike on Beirut, calling it a “brutal escalation.” Hamas “condemns the violent and terrorist aggression launched by the Zionist enemy’s air force on the southern suburbs of Beirut,” it said in a statement, adding that it was a “brutal escalation.”
International law prohibits ‘booby-trapping’ civilian objects, says UN
The use of “booby-trapped” devices that appear to be “harmless” objects could constitute a “war crime,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, denounced on Friday before the Security Council. “International humanitarian law prohibits the use of booby-trapped devices that appear to be harmless objects,” he said at a meeting requested by Algeria after the simultaneous explosion this week of Hezbollah beepers, walkie-talkies and other transmission devices in Lebanon.
“War has rules,” he stressed, repeating his call for an “independent, rigorous and transparent” investigation. “Targeting thousands of individuals simultaneously, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowing who is in possession of the devices concerned, their location and their environment at the time of the attack, violates international humanitarian law and, where applicable, international humanitarian law,” he insisted. “It is therefore difficult to conceive how, in these circumstances, such attacks could be consistent with the key principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution.”