Massive Israeli strikes in Beirut target Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah: Sources

Israeli warplanes carried out a series of strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs Friday, Lebanese state media reported, triggering loud explosions that were heard in the capital.

“Enemy warplanes carried out a series of strikes on the area of Beirut’s southern suburbs,” the National News Agency said. Lebanese television showed plumes of smoke rising from several locations in the area.

Lebanon’s health ministry said two people were killed and 76 wounded in the densely populated area, adding it was a preliminary toll.

“The successive Israeli enemy strikes on Haret Hreik in Beirut’s southern suburbs, in a preliminary toll, killed two people and wounded 76, including… 15 that required hospitalization,” a ministry statement said.

The Israeli strikes on the Lebanese capital were meant to target Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, according to Al Arabiya sources. The Israeli military is checking whether he was hit or not, US news website Axios said, citing an Israeli source.

A source close to Hezbollah said that Hassan Nasrallah was “fine” after the strikes.

“Sayyed Nasrallah is fine,” the source said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The Israeli airstrikes targeted a meeting of “bad people” planning an attack on Israel, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said.

Danon declined to confirm whether Israel was targeting Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, but said the Hezbollah leader is a “bad actor” and “a terrorist” who deserves to be punished.

The Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah’s central headquarters in the Dahieh suburb of southern Beirut.

In a televised statement, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the central command center was embedded deep within civilian areas.

Israeli fighter jets have attacked “Hezbollah targets” in Lebanon, including weapons launchers and weapons storage sites, the military said, hours after it announced a strike against what it said was Hezbollah’s command center in Beirut.

A source close to Hezbollah said the initial strikes flattened six buildings.

“The Israeli strikes levelled six buildings,” the source said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, after the Israeli military said it carried out “a precise strike” on the group’s central headquarters.

‘No truth to any statement’

Hezbollah’s media office said on Friday that there was “no truth to any statement” about the Israeli attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs, without specifying what statements it was referring to.

It said the media office alone would publish in the group’s name. Hezbollah has not otherwise made any statement about the Israeli strikes, which Israel’s military said struck the group’s central command.

Hamas condemns escalation

Hamas condemned the Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs that Israel said targeted the headquarters of the Palestinian group’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

“We… strongly condemn the brutal and ongoing Zionist aggression and escalation against the brotherly Lebanese people through savage air strikes” including Friday’s attack that targeted “residential buildings,” Hamas said in a statement.

Calls for a ceasefire

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Israel’s attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday show it “does not care” about efforts to bring about a ceasefire.

Mikati urged the international community to “stop” Israel from waging a “genocidal war” against Lebanon.

“This new Israeli aggression proves that the Israeli enemy doesn’t care about all the international efforts and calls for a ceasefire,” Mikati, said in a statement issued by his office, urging the international community to stop the “genocidal war that it (Israel) is waging on Lebanon.”

Mikati’s press office sent a statement while he was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, where the US and other countries had made a call for a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.