Under 7 Hezbollah were killed in a rare Israeli strike in the center of Beirut – National
An Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in central Beirut killed seven Hezbollah first responders. Israel has been attacking areas of the country where the militant group has a strong presence since late September, but rarely strikes in the heart of the capital.
There was no warning before Wednesday’s strike, which hit an apartment complex in central Beirut near the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister’s office and parliament. Hezbollah’s public security unit said seven of its members were killed.
Meanwhile, the Red Cross of Lebanon, said that the Israeli strike injured four paramedics and a soldier of the Lebanese army died while they were evacuating the injured in the south. It said a convoy near the village of Taybeh, which was accompanied by Lebanese troops, was targeted on Thursday despite coordinating its movements with UN troops.
In a separate development, the Israeli army ordered the evacuation of villages and towns in southern Lebanon that are in the north of the zone declared by the United Nations after the 2006 war. The warnings issued on Thursday indicated a possible increase in Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon, which have so far been confined to areas near the border.
At least eight Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where Israel announced the start of what it said was a limited offensive earlier this week. At the time the region was looking for retaliation from Israel following an Iranian ballistic missile attack.
Residents reported a sulfur-like smell following the strike in Beirut, and Lebanon’s National News Agency accused Israel of using phosphorus bombs, without providing evidence. Human rights groups have in the past accused Israel of using white phosphorus shells on towns and villages in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Hezbollah has an armed wing of tens of thousands of fighters but also a political movement and a network of humanitarian organizations.
In another incident, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they launched two drones in Tel Aviv overnight. The military said it spotted two planes flying over the bustling city’s coast, shot one of them down and the other crashed into the Mediterranean Sea.
The escalating violence in Lebanon has opened a second phase in the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed militias that began almost a year ago with the October 7 attack by Hamas from the Gaza Strip in Israel.
Israel’s military said Thursday it had killed a senior Hamas leader in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip three months ago. It said a strike on an underground base in northern Gaza killed Rawhi Mushtaha and two other Hamas commanders.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas. Mushtaha was a close friend of Yahya Sinwar, a senior Hamas leader who helped plan the October 7 attack. Sinwar is believed to be alive and hiding inside Gaza.
In recent weeks, Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and several of his top brass. Airstrikes in large parts of Lebanon since mid-September have killed at least 1,276 people, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.
Israel’s military said on Thursday it had struck about 200 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including weapons depots and observation posts. It said the strikes killed at least 15 Hezbollah fighters. There was no independent verification.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, as Israel warned people to evacuate nearly 50 cities and towns in the south, telling them to move to areas 60 kilometers from the border and further north. a buffer zone declared by the UN.
Israel says it targeted Hezbollah after a year of rocket attacks that began on October 8 and drove some 60,000 Israelis from northern communities. Israel has carried out retaliatory strikes over the past year that have left tens of thousands stranded on the Lebanese side.
Most of the recent strikes have been in areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence, including areas south of Beirut known as Dahiyeh. But Israel has also carried out strikes on Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, and a strike in central Beirut earlier this week killed three Palestinian soldiers.
Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are part of the Iran-led Axis of Resistance, which also includes armed groups in Syria and Iraq. They launched an attack on Israel in collaboration with the Palestinians, seeking revenge in a cycle that has repeatedly threatened to derail a wider conflict.
The region was again on the brink of conflict after an Iranian missile attack on Tuesday, which was in response to the killing of Nasrallah, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general who was with him, and Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas. , who was killed in an explosion in Tehran in July that was widely suspected in Israel.
Both Israel and the United States said there would be serious consequences for the missile attack, which slightly injured two people and killed one Palestinian in the West Bank. The United States rushed military supplies to the region to support Israel.
Jeffery reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press staff writers Abby Sewell in Beirut and Zeina Karam in London contributed to this report.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
