The death toll is Israeli military’s “targeted attack” Lebanon’s health minister said Saturday that the number of victims in Friday’s attack on the outskirts of Beirut had risen to 37, including seven women and three children, as Israel and the militant group Hezbollah continued to exchange attacks. The United States has also urged Americans in Lebanon to leave the country.
Firas Abyad told reporters that 68 people were wounded in Friday’s attack, 15 of whom remained in hospital. Search and rescue operations were continuing and the death toll could rise, he said.
The attack, the deadliest to target the Lebanese capital since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, struck a densely populated southern neighbourhood during rush hour on Friday afternoon.
Bilal Hussein/AP
The Israeli military said Saturday it had killed 16 Hezbollah operatives, including Commander Ibrahim Akil, who headed Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, and another senior commander in the group’s military wing, Ahmed Wahbi. Iran-backed Hezbollah said Friday night that 15 of its operatives had been killed by Israeli forces, but did not elaborate on where they were killed.
The US had previously offered a reward of up to $7 million for information leading to the identification, location, arrest and conviction of Akil, an alleged leader of Hezbollah in the 1980s, which claimed responsibility for the 1983 bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut, which killed more than 300 people, and the October 1983 bombing of a US Marine barracks, which killed 241 US troops.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan called Akil’s death a “good outcome” and said he had “American blood on his hands” after the embassy attack.
“1983 seems like a long time ago,” Sullivan said, “but for many families and many people, they still live with it every day.”
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Saturday he would not attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York later this month because of ongoing violence with Israel.
Israel and Hezbollah continue to trade attacks; US urges Americans to leave Lebanon
The Israeli military said about 90 rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel on Saturday, hitting more than 400 Lebanese rocket launchers.
It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
IDF spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari announced updated safety guidelines for the northern Haifa area, limiting outdoor gatherings to 30 people and confined spaces to 300. Work and school can continue, provided people can quickly evacuate to protected areas.
In practice, the new guidelines are likely to mean schools will be closed in some parts of the north because students and teachers will not be able to reach evacuation centres in the time required.
Within an hour of the announcement, Sunday classes were canceled in at least one border area in Western Galilee, including in areas far beyond the usual five-kilometer (three-mile) evacuation zone in northern Israel.
The US State Department issued a travel advisory on Saturday urging Lebanese nationals to leave the country by civilian means while they are still available. The statement said flights are still available but at reduced capacity and the US embassy may not be able to assist nationals who wish to remain. The statement also urged US nationals to refrain from traveling to Lebanon, citing the unpredictable nature of the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
More details on Israel’s attack on Beirut
Wahbi played a key role within Hezbollah for decades and is believed to have been a commander imprisoned in an Israeli prison in southern Lebanon in 1984. Hezbollah claims that Wahbi was one of the “field commanders” in a 1997 ambush in southern Lebanon that killed 12 Israeli soldiers.
The Israeli military said members of the militant group were meeting in the basement of the destroyed building.
The Lebanese army sealed off the area to prevent people from approaching collapsed buildings, while members of the Lebanese Red Cross stood nearby trying to retrieve bodies from under the rubble. On Saturday morning, Hezbollah’s media office guided journalists through the site of the airstrike, where workers were still digging through the rubble.
Public Works and Transport Minister Ali Hamy told reporters at the scene that 23 people were still missing.
The strike on busy Qaim Street collapsed an eight-story building with 16 apartments and damaged another adjacent building. An Associated Press journalist at the scene said the missile destroyed the first building and penetrated the basement of a second building where Hezbollah leaders were meeting.
A nearby building, a clothing store, sustained heavy damage and had a sign in English reading “Dress like you’re already famous.”
Bilal Hussein/AP
Increasing attacks raise tensions in the Middle East
The White House first spoke with Israel Iran-backed Hezbollah for “any kind of escalation” after this week’s sync. Pager and walkie-talkie explosion Israeli warplanes have carried out dozens of strikes in southern Lebanon, targeting members of Hezbollah. Hezbollah continues to fight back.
At least 37 people, including two children, were killed in the pager and walkie-talkie explosion and about 2,900 were injured in the attack, which is widely believed to have been carried out by Israel.
Lebanon’s health minister said Saturday that hospitals across the country were overwhelmed with the wounded.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the attack, but CBS News learned that Israel notified US officials about 20 minutes before the operation was to begin in Lebanon on Tuesday, without providing specific details on how it would be carried out.
Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged frequent fire since Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7 and the Israeli military launched a devastating offensive in the Gaza Strip, but cross-border attacks so far have mainly hit displaced areas in northern Israel and sparsely populated areas in southern Lebanon.
Earlier this week, Israel’s security cabinet said it was considering a broader military operation in Lebanon that could spark all-out war, with the official war objective now being to thwart Hezbollah attacks in the country’s north and allow residents to return to their homes. Israel has since sent powerful combat forces to its northern border.
Retaliation attacks have forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes in both southern Lebanon and northern Israel.
The war between Israel and Hamas
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