The Israeli air force carried out new strikes in Lebanon on Friday, November 1, including at least ten on the southern suburbs of Beirtouh, the capital, which caused strong explosions and transformed entire buildings into piles of rubble and smoking ashes. . Here's what to remember from this day.
New series of airstrikes on Lebanon, notably near Beirut
The Israeli air force carried out at least ten strikes on Friday on the southern suburbs of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, a stronghold of Hezbollah. The Israeli army admitted to having struck targets of the pro-Iranian movement in the Beirut and Nabatiyeh sectors. The fact that Israel “again targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut” and led “destructive raids are all indicators which confirm its refusal of all efforts made to obtain a ceasefire”declared Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
Bombings also targeted the Baalbeck region. The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced Friday evening the death of 52 people in Israeli strikes on the east of the country, which had not been preceded by the evacuation advice usually issued by Israel. The ministry also reported “72 injured according to an updated report from Israeli enemy strikes on the Baalbek-Hermel region”.
These strikes came a few hours after a visit to Jerusalem by two American emissaries who tried to negotiate an outcome to the war pitting Israel against Hezbollah since September as well as that against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, launched there over a year ago. Furthermore, the United States announced on Friday new military deployments in the Middle East which will arrive “in the coming months” for the “defense of Israel” and as a warning to Iran, according to a Pentagon statement.
Nighttime strikes in the Gaza Strip, where the situation is “apocalyptic”
At the same time, Israel continues its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Nighttime strikes on houses left nine people dead in Jabalia and Nousseirat, according to the Palestinian movement's health ministry. “The morgue of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah is full of bodies, mostly children and women”after the strikes in Nousseirat, said a ministry official, Marwan al-Hams.
The Israeli army announced on Friday evening that it had killed a senior official in the Hamas political office in Gaza. Izz al Din Kassab “had the authority to direct the execution of terrorist attacks against the State of Israel”, assures the IDF in its press release. The Islamist movement has not commented on this information for the moment.
The situation in the north of the territory is “apocalyptic” and all of its inhabitants run “imminent risk of death”, officials of major UN humanitarian agencies alerted on Friday. The World Health Organization also announced that vaccination against polio, interrupted in the north due to bombings, would resume on Saturday thanks to a “humanitarian break”.
Drones near Israel intercepted
The Israeli army announced Friday that it had intercepted seven drones approaching its territory during the night and launched from “several fronts” par “terrorist groups”, without specifying which ones, adding that they had destroyed more than 100 drones threatening the country in October.
