Deadly Israeli strikes against Hezbollah stronghold

Israel said it was carrying out new strikes in Beirut overnight from Friday to Saturday targeting Hezbollah arms depots, shortly after a first deadly raid which targeted, according to the army, the “headquarters” of the pro-armed movement. Iranian, in an escalation that is causing international concern.

These strikes target, according to the army, Hezbollah weapons depots hidden under “buildings in the southern suburbs of Beirut”. She had shortly before called on the population to evacuate the area. It had earlier indicated that it had bombed its “headquarters” in this sector, a stronghold of the Lebanese Islamist movement.

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, was targeted by this strike, 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.

Hezbollah denies presence of weapons

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, at 3:30 p.m. GMT (5:30 p.m. in Switzerland), particularly violent in 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.

The Lebanese Islamist movement has denied Israel’s “allegations” about the presence of weapons depots in civilian buildings in the area.

“Not the words”

At the start of the evening, rescuers, helped by excavators, searched through piles of smoking rubble at the foot of residential buildings. “Oh my God, what strikes! I thought the building was going to collapse on me (…) I don’t have the words to describe this feeling,” exclaims Abir Hammoud, a teacher in her forties.

Hezbollah claimed to have fired “salvos of rockets” “in response” at the town of Safed, in northern Israel, one of which hit a house, according to the Israeli army.

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.

“Blatant war crime”

Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian denounced a “blatant war crime”, the Iranian embassy in Lebanon, threatening the perpetrators of this “massacre” with “just punishment”.

The Middle East is on the verge of “total war,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned at the UN.

“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,” added Benjamin Netanyahu, dashing hopes of a truce proposed Wednesday by France and the United States.

Since Monday, these bombings have left more than 700 dead, the majority of them civilians according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. The Israeli army also 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 after nearly a year of exchanges of fire with Hezbollah, which opened a front against Israel at the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, sparked by the unprecedented attack launched on October 7, 2023 on Israeli soil by its ally Hamas. Hezbollah vowed to continue its attacks “until the end of the aggression in Gaza.”

118,000 people thrown onto the roads

More than 1,500 people have since been killed in Lebanon, according to Beirut, a toll heavier than that of the 33 days of war between Israel and the Lebanese formation in 2006. Unicef ​​was alarmed by the “frightening pace” at which children are killed since the intensification of Israeli bombardments this week.

Earlier in the day, Hezbollah fired rockets targeting Haifa Bay – the large city in northern Israel – which is home to many defense industries.

Five Syrian soldiers were also killed in an Israeli strike near the border with Lebanon, according to the official Sana agency.

In one week, 118,000 people were thrown onto the roads in Lebanon, according to the UN. Israel, which has thus moved the center of gravity of the war from the Gaza Strip to the south, claims to be acting to allow the return of tens of thousands of inhabitants from the north who fled Hezbollah fire.

In Gaza, “we will fight until we obtain a victory, a total victory” if Hamas does not lay down its arms and does not release all the hostages, Benjamin Netanyahu also insisted at the UN podium. Hamas in return accused the Israeli leader of continuing “a cycle of crimes to include (le) Lebanon.” He also “strongly condemned” the Israeli strike on Hezbollah HQ.

In the small besieged Palestinian territory, Israel continues its offensive, launched in response to the Hamas attack which led to the death of 1,205 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures including the hostages. dead or killed in Gaza. Of 251 people kidnapped, 97 are still held in Gaza, 33 of whom are declared dead by the army.

In retaliation, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007 and which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union. Its offensive has so far left 41,534 dead, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas government’s Ministry of Health, deemed reliable by the UN, causing a humanitarian disaster.

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