Beirut: In a move that caught many by surprise, the Israeli military carried out its most extensive hit on the headquarters of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday, apparently targeting the militant group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The fate of the Hezbollah chief is not known. While Iran has condemned the attack and also blamed US for it, the American President Biden has denied any prior knowledge of the attack.
Israel’s three main TV channels have reported that the massive strikes in Beirut were aimed at Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The Israeli army has not commented on these reports. However, the size and timing of the blast strongly suggest that a high-value target was inside the building at the time, as reported by the Associated Press.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed targeting Hezbollah’s central command centre in the densely populated Dahiyeh suburb, which is known as a stronghold for the group.
“The IDF (military) carried out a precise strike on the central headquarters of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah in Dahiyeh,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that six buildings were ‘levelled to the ground’ by the strikes, underscoring the significant scale of the Israeli operation.
The news outlet Axios cited an Israeli source as saying Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the strike and that the Israeli military was checking if he was hit.
Explosions from the strikes were heard across Beirut, shaking windows and buildings as far as 30 km away from the city centre. Thick black smoke billowed into the sky, and ambulances were seen racing towards the site of the blasts in Dahieh, with sirens echoing throughout the city.
Hospitals in the area were receiving casualties, but the scale was not immediately clear. Officials at Sahel Hospital near the scene of the strike said they had received ten wounded, three of them critically, including a Syrian child.
The strike came amid heightened tensions following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to escalate Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah.
Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday, Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s commitment to confronting Hezbollah, stating, “As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice, and Israel has every right to remove this threat.”
A Lebanese security source told Reuters that Friday’s assault was the largest Israeli attack on the capital’s southern suburbs since the conflict began earlier this week. The precise impact and casualties from the strike were not immediately known.
The escalation of violence follows a week of intensive airstrikes across southern Lebanon, where Israel has been targeting Hezbollah positions. More than 700 people have reportedly been killed, and tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes amid the bombardment.
Netanyahu’s UN speech, delivered shortly before the Beirut strike, was defiant, dismissing ongoing international efforts to broker a ceasefire in the conflict. The US, European Union, and several Arab nations had proposed a three-week ceasefire to stem the violence. However, Netanyahu focused on achieving “total victory” over Hezbollah and its ally Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls the Gaza Strip.
Iran blames US
Meanwhile, Iran has strongly condemned the Israeli airstrike on Beirut, labelling it a ‘war crime’ and accusing the US of complicity, thereby amplifying the international repercussions of the attack.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian described the strikes as a “flagrant war crime” that “once again reveals the terrorist nature of the Israeli regime,” the state news agency Press TV reported.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry also denounced the strikes in Beirut’s suburbs, describing the attack as a “barbaric” act facilitated by American-supplied bombs.
“While the Israeli regime must be held accountable for the atrocity crimes they have been committing in occupied Palestine and Lebanon, one cannot disregard the US complicity,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said while addressing the UN Security Council on Friday, adding that “Israel’s war-mongering relies on US military support and political backing.”
Both the Israeli and American governments should be held accountable, the Ministry’s spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said.
“The ongoing Israeli aggression against Palestine and Lebanon exposes the hollow nature of Western calls for ceasefire, serving only to prolong Zionist atrocities,” Kanaani added.
The Iranian Embassy in Beirut said the Israeli strike on Friday “changes the rules of the game” and warned Israel would be “punished”.
What the US is saying
Israel notified the US — which has been pushing for ceasefire deals in both Gaza and at the Israel-Lebanon border — only moments before it carried out Friday’s strikes, US Defence Secretary Llyod Austin said on Friday.
US President Joe Biden told reporters that the US had “no knowledge of or participation in” the attack.
The US Pentagon confirmed it had not received prior warning about the strike. A Pentagon spokesperson said that US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart as the operation was underway. The US is actively involved in diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the conflict, which has escalated in recent weeks.
Netanyahu cuts short US trip
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cut short his visit to New York and returned to Israel on Friday, his office said, following a major airstrike on Hezbollah’s headquarters in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
The announcement came after Netanyahu addressed the United Nations in New York, where he was supposed to stay until Saturday night, after the Jewish Sabbath.
The strike marked the most intense bombardment on Beirut in the past year, levelling six buildings and sending massive clouds of orange and black smoke over the city.
The Israeli military described the operation as a “precise strike,” targeting Hezbollah’s central headquarters, located beneath residential buildings in the densely populated southern suburb of Haret Hreik.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesperson, said in a televised statement, “We have targeted the main Hezbollah command centre in Beirut, located deep within civilian areas.”
While the full scale of casualties remains unclear, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that the Lebanese Red Cross deployed 10 teams to the strike scene. Sahel Hospital, located near the site, confirmed that it had received 10 wounded, three of them critically injured, including a Syrian child. Local media showed emergency workers sifting through the rubble searching for survivors, with flashlights illuminating the destruction as night fell over the city.
Just before the strikes, thousands had gathered in a nearby suburb for the funeral of three Hezbollah members, including a senior commander, who were killed in earlier Israeli strikes. Following the latest bombardment, residents of the area were seen hastily gathering their belongings and fleeing toward Beirut’s airport.
The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has seen an escalation in recent days, with Israel launching a wave of airstrikes across southern Lebanon since Monday. Lebanese officials report that more than 700 people have been killed in the bombardment, including at least 50 children. Tens of thousands have fled their homes in Lebanon’s southern and northeastern regions.
The strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs occurred as the US continues to push for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict.
Washington has proposed a three-week ceasefire, supported by the European Union and several Arab nations.
However, Netanyahu’s recent comments signal that Israel is intent on continuing its campaign against Hezbollah and its ally Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
Israel continues to pound Beirut after deadly Hezbollah HQ strike
Israel launched fresh attacks on targets in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahieh early Saturday, saying it was targeting Hezbollah weapons stored under civilian buildings.
Eyewitnesses in Beirut reported Israeli warplanes flying over the city’s southern suburb and conducting several rounds of bombings within an hour in the Dahieh district.
Prior to the attacks, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a statement that the targeted weapons included “a range of coast-to-sea missiles originating from Iran.”
At the UN, Netanyahu ruled out an immediate truce in the escalating conflict with Lebanon and warned of threats from Iran, suggesting Israel faces multiple fronts of conflict organised by Tehran.
“We will not back down in the face of threats from Tehran or its proxies,” Netanyahu told the assembly, defending Israel’s actions as necessary for national security.
Following the Israeli attack, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an attack on Safed, a city in northern Israel, late Friday.
Israel has intensified its airstrikes across Lebanon since Monday, marking the most extensive military action in the region since 2006.
Lebanon’s health ministry reported nearly 700 deaths due to the strikes this week, and the International Organization for Migration estimated that over 200,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon since last October when Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas.
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Lead Photo of Israel Attack: Xinhua
