In Beirut, Israel targeted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah with an airstrike on the group’s headquarters, the biggest attack on the Lebanese capital in almost two decades and a major escalation of a conflict that threatens to engulf the Middle East. Spokesman Daniel Hagari said, ‘The Israel Defense Forces carried out a precise strike on a command center of the Iran-backed militant group that was located under residential buildings, and is still assessing the results’. Israel believes that Nasrallah was at the site of the attack, as per Israeli official who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive information. The Hezbollah leader’s whereabouts couldn’t immediately be verified.
“ALSO READ: IDF Chief To Hezbollah Says Military Boots Will Enter Enemy Territory”
‘Six people were confirmed dead with the toll set to rise’, according to the Lebanon’s Health Ministry. According to the media reports, six buildings in the densely populated Haret Hreik neighborhood were leveled, and footage showed rescue workers pulling children from under the rubble. Hezbollah responded with rocket fire across northern Israel and sirens sounded in the city of Safed, where the IDF said a house suffered a direct hit, and in Nahariya and Karmiel.
The attack came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York, promised to press ahead with the attack on Hezbollah in defiance of US-led efforts to secure a cease-fire. All the week, Israel has been bombarding southern Lebanon, after saying it was switching the focus of its military operations away from the still-ongoing campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
In response, Hezbollah stepped up rocket attacks, firing at Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities. On Friday night, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement posted on X that the Israeli Air Force was carrying out strikes, on Hezbollah sites “in the area of Beirut.” The IDF said, ‘Among the targets struck are weapons production facilities, buildings used to store advanced weapons and key command centers of the terrorist organization’.
Comments