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October 4, 2024 – 08:34
(Keystone-ATS) The Israeli army carried out new air strikes on the south of Beirut, a stronghold of the Shiite movement Hezbollah, during the night from Thursday to Friday. According to the ANI agency, it is “one of the most violent raids” on the Lebanese capital since September 23.
The Israeli army said Thursday that it would continue to inflict “severe blows” on Hezbollah, after three days of ground fighting against the armed Islamist movement in southern Lebanon, which cost the lives of nine of its soldiers.
According to official figures, nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in a year of cross-border violence between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, including more than a thousand since September 23. The Lebanese government estimates the number of displaced people at around 1.2 million.
Thursday evening, “Israel hit the southern suburbs [de Beyrouth] eleven times in a row,” said a source close to the Islamist movement, on condition of anonymity. The official Lebanese news agency ANI reported “more than ten consecutive strikes”.
Balls of flame
According to AFP correspondents, the strikes triggered car alarms and shook buildings in a wide area. AFP images showed giant balls of flame rising from the targeted site, with thick smoke and flares.
The strikes resonated even in mountainous regions outside Beirut, says ANI. “During the night, the ground shook beneath our feet. The sky lit up” because of the force of the strikes and “the neighborhood became a ghost town,” Mohammed Sheaito, a 31-year-old taxi driver in the southern suburbs of Beirut, told AFP.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced on the night of Thursday to Friday the death of 37 people in 24 hours in various Israeli bombings. One of Thursday’s strikes hit Hezbollah’s “intelligence headquarters” near Beirut, according to the Israeli army.
According to the American site Axios, which cites three unidentified Israeli officials, Hachem Safieddine, potential successor to Hassan Nasrallah at the head of Hezbollah, was targeted by Israeli attacks on Wednesday evening. The Israeli army, questioned by AFP, has not yet confirmed this information.
Israel has said it will fight Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, until “victory”, in order to allow the return of around 60,000 residents of border regions displaced for a year by the movement’s incessant rocket fire. Shiite towards the north of its territory.
