An Israeli strike on a Hezbollah relief center in the heart of Beirut left six people dead during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, after a day marked by ground fighting in southern Lebanon where eight Israeli soldiers died. Faced with a risk of widespread conflict in the region after Tuesday’s Iranian strikes on Israel, US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he was opposed to the idea of Israeli strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.
Israel continued its offensive in Lebanon overnight, with 17 raids on Beirut and its southern suburbs, according to the official Lebanese agency NNA. For the second time, a strike hit the very heart of the capital, reaching Hezbollah’s “civil protection center” in the Bachoura district, according to a source close to the pro-Iranian movement. The death toll stands at six dead and seven injured, the Ministry of Health said.
AFP journalists in Beirut heard an explosion and reported that buildings shook, before ambulances headed to the targeted location. The Israeli army also issued a new evacuation order overnight for the Shiite sectors of Haret Hreik, Bourj al-Barajneh and Hadath Gharb, in the south of the capital.
The main information to remember:
– An Israeli strike on a Hezbollah aid center in the heart of Beirut left six people dead during the night from Wednesday to Thursday
– Israeli forces killed three people in Damascus on Wednesday, including the son-in-law of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
– According to the Lebanese Crisis Center, more than 1,928 people have been killed in Lebanon since October 2023
– The Israeli army announced Wednesday the death of eight soldiers, killed since the start of its ground operations in southern Lebanon on Monday
Strike on Damascus
Israeli forces, whose bombings against Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon have left hundreds dead over the past week, also killed three people in Damascus on Wednesday, including the son-in-law of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, himself assassinated by Israel on Wednesday. September 27 in the suburbs of Beirut, an NGO said.
“Hassan Jaafar al-Qasir, son-in-law of Hassan Nasrallah, is one of the two Lebanese victims of the Israeli raid which targeted an apartment in a residential building in the Mazzé district of Damascus,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. ‘man.
A source close to Hezbollah confirmed this information to AFP and specified that Hassan Jaafar al-Qasir was the brother of Jaafar al-Qasir, responsible for the transfer of weapons from Iran to Lebanon, which Israel announced it had killed Tuesday in a strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Iran launched its second direct attack against Israel on Tuesday, followed by threats of cross-retaliation between the two countries. “Iran has made a serious mistake (…) and will pay the price,” warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, for his part, promised “a stronger response” in the event of reprisals, while assuring that his country was not “looking for war”.
The military escalation between Israel on the one hand, Iran and Hezbollah on the other, raises fears that the situation in the Middle East could spiral out of control, a year after the unprecedented attack carried out by Palestinian ally Hamas of Hezbollah, on Israeli soil, which started the war in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.
The Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, castigated on Wednesday “the sickening cycle” of violence in a region on the edge of the “precipice”, before the Security Council meeting urgently. World Health Organization boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on X that Lebanese hospitals were “overwhelmed with injured patients”. “The health system has been weakened by successive crises and is struggling to cope with the immense needs,” he added.
According to the Lebanese Crisis Center, more than 1,928 people have been killed in Lebanon since October 2023. Israel has intensified its military operations on the northern front since mid-September, in order to weaken Hezbollah and allow the return of tens of thousands of people. residents of border regions with Lebanon displaced by rocket fire from the Lebanese movement, incessant for a year.
“Ghost Town”
The Israeli army announced on Wednesday the death of eight soldiers, killed since the start of its ground operations on Monday, which it describes as “limited”, in southern Lebanon. The Israeli army called for the “immediate” evacuation of villages in southern Lebanon while new airstrikes targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut, deserted by its residents.
Three new strikes hit these neighborhoods Wednesday evening, according to witnesses and the AFP. “The neighborhood has become a ghost town,” testified Mohammad Cheaïto, a 31-year-old driver who decided to stay but asked his parents, his sister and his nephews, who had fled southern Lebanon to take refuge with him , to leave for a safer place.
Images released by the Israeli army show soldiers on Lebanese soil, moving on foot through villages and mountainous areas. The army announced that it had deployed a second division to support the troops already there.
In Lebanon, more than 1,000 people have been killed, according to the Ministry of Health, since the explosions of Hezbollah transmission devices on September 17 and 18, attributed to Israel, and the start of massive aerial bombardments on September 23. which mainly targeted the south and east of the country as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut.
The government on Wednesday estimated the number of people displaced by the bombings at around 1.2 million.
The “heart” of Israel targeted
At the same time, Israel and Tehran exchanged threats after the massive attack launched Tuesday by Iran to avenge the death of Hassan Nasrallah and that of Hamas leader Ismaïl Haniyeh, killed on July 31 in an attack in Tehran, blamed on Israel by Iran and Hamas. Around 200 missiles were fired by Tehran, a large number of which were intercepted by the anti-missile system, said the Israeli army, which benefited from the support of American and British forces, according to the Pentagon and London.
This attack, the second since April, injured two people in Israel and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, according to emergency services and a Palestinian official. “This is not going to end well”, “restraint is not Benyamin Netanyahu’s strong point”, political analyst Jordan Barkin commented for AFP.
In Tehran, Mansour Firouzabadi, a 45-year-old nurse, said he was “really worried”, hoping “that the United States will stop supporting Israel and that Israel will not retaliate”. The armed wing of Hamas also claimed responsibility on Wednesday for an attack committed the day before in Tel Aviv, in which seven people were killed with automatic weapons and knives.
At the same time, the Israeli army announced on Wednesday that it had attacked two schools in the north of the Gaza Strip, and a third in the center, used according to it by Hamas as command centers.
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