Shortly after the end of Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech, the Israeli army announced a “precise strike” on the “headquarters” of Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut, announces AFP.
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, targeted by this strike according to several Israeli television channels, “is doing well”, a source close to the Lebanese Islamist movement assured AFP.
According to the same source, six buildings were completely destroyed in the area, the scene, according to a video obtained by AFP, of huge explosions which raised thick columns of smoke.
An AFP photographer reported scenes of panic, with residents fleeing the area, which is home to many apartment buildings, in a hurry, to the sound of ambulance sirens.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati denounced a “genocidal war” led by Israel.
The UN expressed its “deep concern” and Washington, Israel’s unconditional ally, claimed not to have been informed of this strike.
“As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no other choice,” Netanyahu had recently affirmed, on the fifth day of the deadly airstrikes carried out by his army against the Lebanese formation, which fired at new rockets towards Israeli territory.
These operations will continue “until all our objectives are achieved”, added Netanyahu, before the UN General Assembly, in a speech boycotted by several delegations, dashing hopes of a temporary 21-day truce proposed Wednesday by France and the United States joined by many Western and Arab countries.
Since Monday, massive Israeli bombings aimed at weakening Hezbollah have left more than 700 dead, mostly civilians according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
The Israeli army also indicated that it was preparing for a possible ground incursion against Hezbollah, which would be “as short” as possible, an Israeli security official assured Friday.
At midday, the Israeli army had already reported “dozens of strikes” against Hezbollah, whose rockets have targeted northern Israel almost daily since the unprecedented attack launched on October 7, 2023 by Hamas on Israeli soil, which sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah vowed to continue its attacks “until the end of the aggression in Gaza.”
More than 1,500 people have been killed in Lebanon in almost a year, according to Beirut, more than the 1,200 deaths in 33 days of war between Israel and the Lebanese Islamist group in 2006.
Unicef has expressed alarm at the “frightening rate” at which children are being killed, as well as the damage to civilian installations such as pumping stations.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing against Israel on Friday in the Kyriat Ata sector, in Haifa Bay, which is home to numerous industries, particularly defense industries, and in the city of Tiberias, about thirty kilometers south of the border.
The Israeli army also said it had intercepted four drones fired from Lebanon towards the Rosh Hanikra border area and responded to rocket fire towards Haifa, the major port in northern Israel.
Five Syrian soldiers were also killed in an Israeli strike near the border with Lebanon, according to the official Sana agency.
Israeli bombings have thrown 118,000 people onto the roads in Lebanon this week, according to the UN.
In Baakline, southeast of Beirut, Hala Zeidane has been welcoming displaced people from southern Lebanon since Monday, two sisters and the little boy of one of them, aged 10. “This is our country and (…) we could all become displaced people. We must show compassion,” explains this 61-year-old teacher.
Echoing many other leaders, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Thursday against a “total war” that “would be devastating for Israel and Lebanon,” saying a ceasefire could also allow to conclude a truce agreement in Gaza.
Israel, which has moved the center of gravity of the war from the Gaza Strip in the south to the border with Lebanon in the north, claims to be operating against Hezbollah to allow the return of tens of thousands of residents who fled its rocket fire.
According to the Israeli government, 9,360 rockets and missiles have been fired at Israel in nearly a year.
In Gaza, “we will fight until we achieve victory, total victory” if Hamas does not lay down its arms and release all the hostages, Mr. Netanyahu also insisted from the UN podium.
Hamas in return accused the Israeli leader of “intensifying his threats against the people of the region, while continuing his cycle of crimes to include (le) Lebanon”.
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