BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Not less than 31 individuals died in an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb on Friday, the Lebanese well being ministry mentioned on Saturday, together with three kids and 7 girls, within the deadliest strike in a yr of battle between Hezbollah and Israel.
Hezbollah mentioned in a single day that the useless included 16 of its members, together with senior chief Ibrahim Aqil and one other prime commander, Ahmed Wahbi.
The strike sharply escalated the battle between Israel and the Iran-backed group and inflicted one other blow on Hezbollah after two days of assaults this week during which pagers and walkie-talkies utilized by its members exploded. The overall demise toll in these assaults has risen to 39, and greater than 3,000 have been injured.
The assaults on communications units have been broadly believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
Hezbollah-aligned transport minister Ali Hamieh informed reporters on the scene of Friday’s strike that at the very least 23 individuals have been nonetheless lacking.
“The Israeli enemy is taking the region to war,” he mentioned. The ministry had dispatched automobiles and tools to assist rescuers dig by means of the collapsed buildings. “We’ve been taking out women and children from under the rubble,” he mentioned.
Hezbollah confirmed Aqil’s demise in a press release simply after midnight that known as him “one of its top leaders”.
It mentioned in a single day that 15 different members have been additionally killed, together with senior commander Wahbi, who oversaw the navy operations of the Radwan particular forces through the Gaza conflict till early 2024.
The Friday afternoon strike focused a constructing subsequent door to a nursery, which suffered impression from the strike, a safety supply mentioned on Friday.
A second safety supply mentioned a number of missiles slammed into the opening of a constructing’s storage. The explosion tore into the constructing’s decrease ranges as Aqil met different commanders inside.
In a short assertion on Friday night carried by Israeli media, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned Israel’s targets have been clear and its actions spoke for themselves.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who mentioned this week that Israel is launching a brand new part of conflict on the northern border, posted on X: “The sequence of actions in the new phase will continue until our goal is achieved: the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes.”
Tens of 1000’s of individuals have been evacuated from houses on each side of the Israel-Lebanon border since Hezbollah started firing rockets at Israel in October in sympathy with Palestinians within the practically year-old Israeli conflict in opposition to Hamas in Gaza.
Israel’s navy mentioned on Saturday that airspace in northern Israel – from town of Hadera north – was closed to non-public flights, however mentioned the measure didn’t have an effect on worldwide flights.
“These restrictions were set in place to maintain the security of flights and in accordance with operational activity,” the navy mentioned.
‘DANGEROUS CYCLE OF VIOLENCE’
With at the very least 70 individuals killed in Lebanon this week, the demise toll within the nation since October has surpassed 740. The present battle between Israel and Hezbollah is the worst since they fought an all-out conflict in 2006.
The U.N. Particular Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine-Hennis Plasschaert, mentioned on Friday that the strike in a densely populated space of Beirut’s southern suburbs was a part of “an extremely dangerous cycle of violence with devastating consequences. This must stop now.”
Friday’s strike marked the second time in lower than two months that Israel has focused a number one Hezbollah navy commander in Beirut. In July, an Israeli airstrike killed Fuad Shukr, the group’s prime navy commander.
Whereas the present battle has largely been contained to areas at or close to the frontier, this week’s escalation has heightened issues that it may widen and additional intensify.
