Israel Stages Massive Beirut Strikes Targeting Hezbollah Leaders
(Bloomberg) -- Israel carried out huge bombing raids overnight near Beirut airport aimed at Hezbollah commanders and facilities, as the US and its allies warned of “uncontrollable escalation” in the Middle East.
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The air strikes in the southern outskirts of the Lebanese capital targeted the potential successor of the militant group’s assassinated leader Hassan Nasrallah and other figures, the New York Times reported, citing Israeli officials. It was not known if Hashem Safieddine died in the bombardment, which shook buildings in the city, the newspaper said.
Since last month, Israel has stepped up a campaign to eliminate threats from Iran-backed Hezbollah, killing much of its top leadership and sending troops into southern Lebanon for the first time since a 2006 war to uproot fighters and destroy their stockpiles of missiles and drones.
On Tuesday, Iran fired 200 ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation for the attacks on Hezbollah and the killing of a Hamas leader in July. That’s raised more fears of major tit-for-tat attacks that could trigger a region-wide war and drag in the US, Israel’s main ally.
Oil surged on Thursday when President Joe Biden, responding to a question about whether the US would support Israeli assaults on Iran’s oil infrastructure, said: “We’re discussing that. I think that would be a little — anyways.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate and is under pressure at home to carry out a bigger counter-strike than in April. Then, Israel caused limited damage at a Iranian military facility in revenge for Tehran firing 300 missiles and drones, almost all of which were intercepted.
The outcome was similar on Tuesday, though Iran gave less warning and more missiles breached Israel’s air defenses. One person died in the West Bank.
Iran warned the US it’s ready to act against any government that helps Israel execute a new strike.
“We advise countries to refrain from entangling themselves in the conflict between the Israeli regime and Iran and to distance themselves from the fray,” Iran’s United Nations mission said in a statement on Thursday, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. If “another country helps the aggressor, this country will be deemed an accomplice and a legitimate target.”
Israel says its actions in Lebanon — more than 1,500 people have died in air strikes in recent weeks and around one million have been displaced, according to Lebanese officials — are necessary to end a year of cross-border rocket attacks by Hezbollah. Those, carried out in solidarity with Hamas, have forced tens of thousands of Israelis to flee their homes in the north of the country.
Lebanon said 37 more people were killed by strikes on Thursday and more than 150 were wounded. As well as Beirut, Israeli jets struck south Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley in the north-east and the Mount Lebanon region in the north, the Lebanese health ministry said.
The Group of Seven nations called for “restraint” among the warring sides and warned about an “uncontrollable escalation in the Middle East.”
They also called for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, where Israel’s campaign to defeat Hamas — another Iran-supported militia — has killed some 41,000 people according to the Hamas-run health authority. That war was triggered by the group’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, during which its fighters left 1,200 people dead and took 250 hostage.
Truce talks between Hamas and Israel have stalled, but fighting as eased with the Palestinian group suffering dire losses. That’s allowed Israel to focus more on the north and Hezbollah.
The US considers both Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist groups.
The fighting in Gaza has spilled over into the West Bank, where control is split between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The Israeli air force overnight targeted a local Hamas leader and other militants in the West Bank town of Tulkarm. The bombing killed 18 people, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Israel’s military intervention in Lebanon has raised concerns it could get dragged into a quagmire similar to its 1982 invasion, that was meant to be short but lasted 18 years.
Eight Israeli soldiers died on Wednesday in southern Lebanon, and the Lebanese army said Thursday two of its soldiers died in separate incidents. The Lebanese army is seperate from Hezbollah and rarely involved in incidents with the Israeli military.
Hezbollah, which retains considerable stockpiles of missiles and tens of thousands of fighters, launched approximately 230 projectiles from Lebanon into Israeli territory on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said.
--With assistance from Dana Khraiche and Fadwa Hodali.
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