JERUSALEM (AP) — The first Israeli airstrike on central Beirut in nearly a year of conflict destroyed an apartment building early Monday. This comes after Israel attacked targets across Lebanon, killing dozens of people, and Hezbollah suffered a major blow to its chain of command, including the killing of its leader. Hassan Nasrallah.
According to an Associated Press reporter at the scene, the airstrike hit a high-rise residential building. Video showed ambulances and crowds gathering near the building in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood with a busy boulevard lined with stores.
Lebanon’s Palestinian leftist faction said three of its members were killed in the airstrike. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said in a statement early Monday that a Lebanese military and security commander and a third member were killed in the attack.
The group does not play a significant role in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Shiite militant group Hezbollah.
Lebanese civil defense officials earlier said the attack killed one member of al-Jamaa al-Islam and wounded 16 others, a Sunni militant group aligned with Hezbollah. has not confirmed the death of any member of al-Jamaa al-Islam. any of its members.
Also early Monday morning, a new airstrike killed a commander of the Hamas militant group based in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. Hamas said Fatah Sharif and his family were killed in an airstrike on Albus refugee camp in the southern port city of Tire.
Israel has frequently targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs in the past week, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, including a major attack on Friday that killed Mr. Nasrallah, but also targeted areas near the city center. is not attacking.
Israeli officials had no immediate comment.
Earlier, Hezbollah admitted that Nabil Kaouk, vice-chairman of the Central Council, was killed on Saturday, making him the next president. Seventh Hezbollah leader killed Israel’s offensive will begin in a little over a week. They include: Founding members of the group People who have been escaping death and detention for decades.
Hezbollah also acknowledged that another senior commander, Ali Karaki, was killed in the attack that killed Nasrallah. Israel said at least 20 Hezbollah militants were killed, including the head of Nasrallah’s security forces.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Sunday’s airstrikes killed at least 105 people across the country. The ministry said at least 32 people were killed in two airstrikes near the southern city of Sidon, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Beirut. Separately, an Israeli airstrike in the northern province of Baalbek-Hermel killed 21 people and injured at least 47 others.
In addition to the attack in Beirut, Lebanese media reported dozens of strikes in the central, eastern and western Bekaa, as well as in the south. Israel says it is targeting militants, but the airstrikes have hit buildings occupied by civilians and the death toll is expected to rise.
Video of the strike in Sidon seen by The Associated Press showed buildings shaking before collapsing as neighbors filmed. One TV station posted photos and asked viewers to pray for families trapped under rubble after rescuers failed to arrive. Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that at least 14 doctors were killed in the south over two days.
President Joe Biden On Sunday, he said he would soon meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said he believed all-out war in the Middle East should be avoided. “Absolutely,” Biden told reporters as he boarded Air Force One for Washington at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
meanwhile, Remnants of Friday’s strike that killed Nasrallah It was still smoldering. Smoke billowed above the rubble as people flocked to the site to see what was left of their homes, others to pay their respects, pray or simply witness the destruction.
In response to a dramatic escalation in Israeli attacks on Lebanon, Hezbollah significantly increased its rocket attacks last week, increasing from dozens to hundreds daily, according to the Israeli military. The attack left several people injured and other casualties, but most of the rockets and drones were intercepted by Israeli air defense systems or fell into open areas.
The military claims that the airstrikes have weakened Hezbollah’s capabilities and that the number of launches would have been higher had Hezbollah not been attacked.
Israel attacks Houthi targets in Yemen
Dozens of aircraft struck Houthi targets in Yemen on Sunday in response to recent Israeli attacks, the Israeli military said. The military said it targeted power plants and port facilities in the city of Hodeidah.
Also on Sunday, the Israeli military announced that dozens of aircraft had struck Houthi targets in Yemen in response to recent attacks. The military said it targeted power plants and port facilities in the city of Hodeidah.
The Houthis launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport on Saturday, the day Netanyahu arrived. The Houthi media office said the Israeli military strikes hit the ports of Hodeidah and Ras Issa, as well as two power plants in the city of Hodeidah, a stronghold of Iranian-backed rebels. The Houthi-run health ministry said four people were killed and 40 injured in the airstrike.
Nasruddin Ammar, deputy head of the Houthi media office, claimed that the Houthis had taken precautions ahead of the attack, including emptying oil stored at the port. In a post on X, he said the attack would not stop rebel attacks by sea or against Israel.
US warns Hezbollah will work quickly to rebuild
Meanwhile, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Israel’s airstrikes in Lebanon had “decimated” Hezbollah’s chain of command, but warned that the group would work quickly to rebuild.
“I think people are safer without him walking around,” Kirby said of Nasrallah. “But they’re going to try to bounce back. We’re looking at what they’re going to do to fill this leadership vacuum. It’s going to be tough. … Their command Many of the lineages are now extinct.
Kirby sidestepped a question on CNN’s “State of the Union” about whether the Biden administration agrees with the way Israel is targeting Hezbollah leaders. The White House continues to urge Israel and Hezbollah to agree to a 21-day temporary ceasefire struck by the United States, France and other countries at last week’s United Nations General Assembly.
Airstrikes force thousands from their homes in Lebanon
Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon have killed more than 1,030 people in less than two weeks, including 156 women and 87 children, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes. The government estimates that around 250,000 people are in evacuation centers, with three to four times that number staying with friends and relatives or camping on the streets.
Hezbollah is a Lebanese extremist organization and political party backed by Israel’s biggest regional rival, Iran, that fought a devastating month-long war with Israel that ended in a draw in 2006. Afterwards, it gained fame in the region.
Kaouk is a veteran member of Hezbollah dating back to the 1980s and served as Hezbollah’s military commander in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel. The United States announced sanctions against him in 2020.
After Hamas’ attack on Gaza on October 7 triggered the war in Gaza, Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies that consider themselves part of an Iranian-backed “axis of resistance” against Israel.
The conflict is moving steadily to the brink of full-scale war, raising fears of a region-wide conflagration.
Israel has said it is determined to return some 60,000 of its citizens to northern communities they fled about a year ago. Hezbollah has said it will stop firing rockets only if a ceasefire is reached in the Gaza Strip, but a ceasefire is unlikely despite months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas led by the US, Qatar and Egypt. I know that.
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Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Natalie Meltzer in Tel Aviv, Israel; Amer Madani of Washington; Sammy Magdy of Cairo. Jack Jeffrey in Jerusalem and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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