Israel carried out new deadly strikes against Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut on the night of Friday to Saturday.
New strikes were carried out by Israel in Beirut, Lebanon, during the night from Friday to Saturday, directly targeting Hezbollah. Arms depots were targeted, shortly after a first deadly raid which targeted, according to the army, the “headquarters” of the pro-Iranian armed movement. The arms depots were, again according to the IDF, hidden under “buildings in the southern suburbs of Beirut”. The Israeli army had shortly before called on the population to evacuate the area.
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, was directly targeted by this series of attacks, according to several Israeli television stations. A source close to the Islamist group indicated that he was unhurt. The Israeli army, however, claimed on Saturday on Telegram to have killed in another air attack the commander of the movement’s missile unit, Mohammed Ali Ismaïl, as well as his deputy Hossein Ahmed Ismaïl, in southern Lebanon. “Other Hezbollah commanders and terrorists were eliminated along with them,” she added.
The Israeli army had indicated earlier in the night that its air force was flying over the surroundings of the capital’s airport, to prevent Iran from landing arms shipments intended for Hezbollah. It also said it was carrying out strikes against Hezbollah targets in the Tire region, in southern Lebanon.
The raid on Beirut, particularly violent and on a densely populated neighborhood, left two dead and 76 injured, according to an initial report from the Lebanese Ministry of Health. According to a source close to Hezbollah, six buildings were completely destroyed in the area, raised by huge explosions which caused thick columns of smoke and dug large craters, sowing panic among residents. At the start of the evening, rescuers, helped by excavators, were still searching through piles of smoking rubble at the foot of residential buildings.
Towards a “total war” in the Middle East
The Lebanese Islamist movement has denied Israel’s “allegations” about the presence of weapons depots in civilian buildings in the area. Hezbollah claimed to have fired “salvos of rockets” into the town of Safed, in northern Israel, “in response”, one of which hit a house, according to the Israeli army. Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian denounced a “blatant war crime”, the Iranian embassy in Lebanon, threatening the perpetrators of this “massacre” with “just punishment”.
The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken urged both parties to “stop shooting” and President Joe Biden “asked the Pentagon to evaluate and adjust if necessary the American military presence” in the Middle East, according to the House White. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati denounced a “genocidal war” led by Israel. “The shock wave” caused by the war in Gaza threatens to push the entire Middle East “into the abyss,” warned UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The Middle East is on the verge of “total war”, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned at the UN.
Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon mooted
“As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no other choice,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN. These operations will continue “until all our objectives are achieved”, he added, dampening hopes of a truce proposed Wednesday by France and the United States. The Israeli army even said it was preparing for a possible ground incursion, which would be “as short” as possible, an Israeli security official assured Friday.
The Israeli army launched its strikes on Lebanon after almost a year of exchanges of fire with Hezbollah, an Islamist movement and Shiite paramilitary group considered terrorist, which has had significant power in Beirut since its creation in the 1980s. Hezbollah opened a front against Israel at the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, mainly through rocket fire from across the border, to support its ally Hamas, after the attack of October 7, 2023. on Israeli soil. By attacking in turn, Israel wants to allow the return of tens of thousands of inhabitants of the north who had fled Hezbollah fire.
More than 1,500 people have since been killed in Lebanon, in addition to tens of thousands displaced, according to Beirut. A toll heavier than that of the 33 days of war between Israel and the Lebanese formation in 2006. Unicef was particularly alarmed by the “frightening rate” at which children have been killed since the intensification of Israeli bombings this week.