By Summary
- Hezbollah says 16 members killed, including two senior leaders.
- Israeli officials describe actions as part of a new phase in the war.
- UN official calls for an end to the violence, citing devastating consequences.
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, Sept 21 (AfrikTimes) – At least 37 people, including three children and seven women, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb on Friday, according to a statement from the Lebanese health ministry on Saturday.
Hezbollah said overnight that those killed in the deadliest strike in nearly a year-long conflict between Iran-backed group and Israel included 16 of its members, and that senior leader Ibrahim Aqil and another top commander, Ahmed Wahbi, were among the dead. The Israeli army, in posts on X, said the strike hit an underground gathering of Aqil and senior commanders of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces, and had “almost completely dismantled” Hezbollah’s military chain of command.
The attack levelled a multi-story residential building in the crowded suburb and a nursery next door was damaged, a security source said.
A medical personnel works at the site of Friday’s Israeli strike, as search and rescue operations continue, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon September 21, 2024.
Heavy cross-border strikes continued on Saturday, with Israeli warplanes carrying some of the heaviest bombardments in 11 months of conflict across southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah claimed responsibility for rocket attacks on military targets in northern Israel. The Israeli army said it hit around 180 targets, destroying thousands of rocket launch barrels. Friday’s airstrike sharply escalated the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed resistance group, and inflicted another blow on Hezbollah after two days of attacks this week in which pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded.
The total death toll in those attacks has risen to 39, with more than 3,000 people injured. The attacks on Hezbollah’s communication devices were widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, although Israeli authorities have not confirmed or denied their involvement.
The Israeli military has issued an update on yesterday’s strike in southern Lebanon, saying it has killed a dozen senior commanders in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati cancelled a planned trip to the U.N. General Assembly in New York over the escalating conflict, his office said in a statement.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said he was worried about an escalation between Israel and Lebanon but that the Israeli killing of top Hezbollah leader brought justice to the group, which Washington designates as a terrorist organization.
“While the risk of escalation is real, we actually believe there is also a distinct avenue too getting to a cessation of hostilities and a durable solution that makes people on both sides of the border feel secure,” Sullivan told reporters in the U.S. state of Delaware.
Hezbollah has said it will keep fighting Israel until it agrees to a ceasefire in its war against Hamas in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza – triggered by Hamas-led rampage in southern Israel on Oct. 7. U.S. officials say that is unlikely to come anytime soon. Israel wants Hezbollah to cease fire and withdraw its forces from the border region irrespective of any Gaza deal.
MISSING PEOPLE
Hezbollah-aligned Transport Minister Ali Hamieh told reporters at the scene of Friday’s strike that at least 23 people were still missing.
“The Israeli enemy is taking the region to war,” he said.
The ministry has deployed vehicles and equipment to assist rescue teams in clearing debris from the collapsed buildings.
“We have been pulling women and children from beneath the rubble,” Hamieh added.
Dresses hang in a damaged building at the site of Friday’s Israeli strike, as search and rescue operations continue, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon September 21, 2024.
Hezbollah confirmed Aqil’s death in a statement released shortly after midnight that described him as “one of its top leaders.” It said that 15 other members were also killed, including senior commander Ahmed Wahbi, who oversaw the military operations of Radwan forces during the Gaza war up until early 2024.
The Friday afternoon strike targeted a building next door to a nursery, which suffered from the impact of the strike, a security source said on Friday. A second security source said multiple missiles slammed into the opening of a building’s garage. The explosion tore into the building’s lower levels where Aqil and other commanders were meeting.
In a brief statement on Friday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s goals were clear and its actions spoke for themselves.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who said this week Israel was launching a new phase of war 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.”
People gather at the scene of an Israeli missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024.
Tens of thousands of people have left their homes on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border since Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel in October in sympathy with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel’s military said on Saturday that airspace in northern Israel, from the city of Hadera northward, had been closed to private flights, but that the measure did not affect international flights.
“These restrictions were set in place to maintain the security of flights and in accordance with operational activities,” the military said.
‘DANGEROUS CYCLE OF VIOLENCE’
With at least 70 people killed in Lebanon this week, the death toll in the country since October has surpassed 740. The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has become the worst since they fought an all-out war in 2006.
People gather near a firetruck and damaged vehicles at the site of Friday’s Israeli strike, as search and rescue operations continue, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon September 21, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh.
The U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said on Friday the strike in a densely populated area of Beirut’s southern suburbs was part of “an extremely dangerous cycle of violence with devastating consequences.” She urged for an immediate halt to the violence, saying, “This must stop now.”
The strike on Friday was the second time in less than two months that Israel has targeted a senior Hezbollah military commander in Beirut. In July, an Israeli airstrike killed Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s top military commander.
While the current conflict has largely been contained to areas at or near the frontier, this week’s escalation has heightened concerns that the violence could spread and intensify further.
A view of damaged vehicles at the site of Friday’s Israeli strike, as search and rescue operations continue, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon September 21, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh.
