Authors: Maya Gerbeli, Tom Perry, and Emily Rose
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Israeli army mentioned it attacked Hezbollah’s central headquarters in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday, an assault that rocked the Lebanese capital and despatched a thick plume of smoke over town.
Information outlet Axios quoted Israeli sources as saying that Hezbollah chief Mentioned Hassan Nasrallah was the goal of the assault and that the Israeli army was checking whether or not he had been hit.
A supply near Hezbollah advised Reuters Nasrallah was alive, whereas Iran’s Tasnim information company reported he was secure.
A senior Iranian safety official advised Reuters that Tehran was checking his identification.
Iran-backed Hezbollah Mannar TV reported that 4 buildings had been destroyed in a number of assaults, inflicting a number of casualties, marking a big escalation in Israel’s battle with the closely armed Hezbollah.
The Israeli army mentioned it carried out a “precision strike” on Hezbollah’s headquarters, which is “situated downstairs in a residential constructing within the heart of Dahiye, Beirut.”
Israel carried out 4 assaults final week on the Hezbollah-controlled southern Beirut suburb of Dahiya, killing at the least three senior Hezbollah army commanders.
However Friday’s assault was much more highly effective, with a number of explosions shaking home windows throughout town and recalling air strikes in 2006 throughout Israel’s struggle with Hezbollah.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari mentioned in a televised assertion that the central command heart was deep in civilian areas.
The assaults hit Beirut after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed in a carefully watched speech to the United Nations to proceed Israeli assaults towards Iranian-backed militants in Lebanon, as hopes of a ceasefire that would forestall a full-scale regional struggle light.
It was Israel’s strongest assault to date in Beirut’s practically year-long battle with Hezbollah. Lebanese safety sources mentioned the assault focused an space the place senior Hezbollah officers are normally primarily based.
Footage broadcast by Mannar TV confirmed at the least one smoldering crater on the website of the assault.
The battle between Israel and Hezbollah escalated sharply this week, with Israeli air strikes killing greater than 700 folks in Lebanon. The escalation has raised fears of a extra harmful battle between closely armed rivals.
“So long as Hezbollah chooses the trail of struggle, Israel has no alternative and has each proper to remove this menace and permit our residents to return residence safely,” Netanyahu mentioned in a speech on the United Nations Common Meeting.
“Israel has tolerated this insupportable state of affairs for nearly a 12 months. Properly, I am right here right this moment to say, we have had sufficient,” he mentioned.
As Netanyahu approached the rostrum, a number of delegations exited and supporters within the gallery cheered.
Israel mentioned the operation was geared toward making certain the secure return of tens of 1000’s of individuals pressured to evacuate their properties in northern Israel resulting from rocket assaults, and Hezbollah has been expressing solidarity with Hamas, its Palestinian ally combating Israel in Gaza.
This week’s escalation has displaced round 100,000 folks in Lebanon, bringing the entire variety of folks uprooted by battle within the nation to nicely over 200,000.
