By Summary
Latest Developments:
- Hezbollah leader’s potential successor remains unreachable, according to a source.
- Israeli airstrike hits Tripoli in northern Lebanon, officials say.
- More nightly raids continue in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, Oct 5 (AfrikTimes) – The potential successor to murdered Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has been out of contact since Friday, a Lebanese security source said, after an Israeli airstrike reported to have targeted him.
A damaged vehicle lies amidst the rubble in the aftermath of the Israeli strikes, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in the Chiyah area of Dahiyeh, Beirut, October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki.
Israeli strikes across the region in the past year, sharply accelerated in the past few weeks, have decimated Hezbollah’s leadership. Israel expanded its conflict in Lebanon on Saturday with its first strike in the northern city of Tripoli, a Lebanese security official said, after more bombs hit Beirut suburbs and Israeli troops launched raids in the south.
Smoke billows over Beirut’s southern suburbs after overnight strikes, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Joseph Campbell.
Israel has begun an intense bombing campaign in Lebanon and sent troops across the border in recent weeks after nearly a year of exchanging fire with Hezbollah. Fighting had previously been mostly limited to the Israel-Lebanon border area, in parallel to Israel’s year-old war in Gaza against Palestinian group Hamas.
Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israel had killed 440 Hezbollah fighters in its ground operations in southern Lebanon and destroyed 2,000 Hezbollah targets. Hezbollah has not released any death tolls.
Israel says it aims to allow the safe return of tens of thousands of citizens to their homes in northern Israel, bombarded by Hezbollah since last Oct. 8. The Israeli attacks have eliminated much of Hezbollah’s senior military leadership, including Nasrallah in an air attack on Sept. 27.
Smoke rises over Dahiyeh in Beirut’s southern suburbs, after Israeli air strikes, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon, October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh.
Civilian Deaths and Displacement
The Israeli assault has also killed hundreds of Lebanese civilians, Lebanese officials say, and forced 1.2 million people, almost a quarter of the country’s population to flee their homes. Lebanon’s health ministry said on Saturday that Israeli strikes killed at least 25 people and wounded 127 the day before.
A Lebanese security official told Reuters that an Israeli strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli on Saturday killed a Hamas member, his wife and two children. Media affiliated with the Palestinian resistance group said the strike killed a leader of its armed wing, naming him as Saeed Atallah.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike on Tripoli, a Sunni Muslim-majority port city that its warplanes also targeted during a 2006 war with Hezbollah.
It said in a later statement that it had killed two Hamas members operating in Lebanon, but did not say where they were killed. There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
Smoke billows over Beirut’s southern suburbs, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Joseph Campbell.
Israel has continued its nightly bombardment of Dahiyeh, a once-thriving residential area now largely reduced to rubble. On Saturday, thick smoke was seen billowing over the area.
Meanwhile, in northern Israel, air raid sirens sent residents scrambling for shelter as rockets were fired from Lebanon. Hezbollah said it had fired missiles at what it called “ATA company for military industries near Sakhnin base,” close to the city of Haifa. It was not immediately clear what Hezbollah was referring to.
The Israeli army could not immediately be reached for comment but said two projectiles had crossed from Lebanon, one of which was intercepted while the other landed but caused no damage.
Smoke rises over Dahiyeh in Beirut’s southern suburbs, after Israeli air strikes, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon, October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh.
ISRAEL WEIGHS OPTIONS FOR IRAN
The violence comes as the anniversary approached of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and displaced nearly all of the enclave’s population of 2.3 million.
Israel is currently weighing its response. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari confirmed that two Israeli airbases were hit in Tuesday’s attacks but remained operational. “The manner, location, and timing of our response will be decided by political leadership,” Hagari said in a broadcast statement.
Beirut, October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a pre-recorded video message that no country would accept an attack on its citizens like Iran’s on Israel. “Israel has the obligation and the right to defend itself and to retaliate against these attacks and that is what we will do,” Netanyahu said.
Oil prices have risen amid speculation that Israel may target Iranian oil facilities. U.S. President Joe Biden urged Israel on Friday to explore alternatives to attacking Iran’s oil infrastructure.
Israeli media reported on Saturday that the top U.S. general for the Middle East, Army General Michael Kurilla, had landed in Israel. Israeli and U.S. officials were not immediately reachable for comment.
Smoke billows amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Aziz Taher.
