Israel bombards Beirut after deadliest West Bank strike in decades

Israel bombarded south Beirut at least 10 times late Thursday, Lebanese sources said, after it launched its deadliest strike on the occupied West Bank in decades.

The escalating assaults by Israel come as it weighs retaliation for Iran’s barrage of missiles fired at the country, with the United States saying Israel hitting Iranian oil facilities is on the table.

Iran said the attack was its response to the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, chief of its ally Hezbollah, and other top figures.

There was no let-up to Israeli strikes on Beirut, with AFP correspondents in the capital and beyond hearing loud bangs that made buildings shake.

The military launched 11 consecutive strikes on Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold late Thursday, a source close to the group told AFP, while the official National News Agency (NNA) put the tally at more than 10.

The Israeli military said it hit “targets belonging to Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut”.

Israel’s bombing in Lebanon has killed more than 1,000 people, according to the Lebanese health ministry, and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes in a nation already mired in economic and political crisis.

“We are peaceful civilians in our homes,” said Hassan Ammar, 82, who had been staying in a building whose walls were partly blown out by a strike in Beirut after he fled south Lebanon.

Another strike late Thursday targeted a warehouse adjacent to the capital’s airport, a source close to Hezbollah said.

Meanwhile, a source within the Palestinian security services told AFP that an air raid on the refugee camp of Tulkarm, killing 18 people, was the deadliest in the occupied West Bank since 2000.

The Israeli military said its strike in the northern West Bank killed Hamas leader Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi, who it accused of participating in numerous attacks.

Alaa Sroji, a social activist from the area, said an Israeli warplane had “hit a cafeteria in a four-story building”.

Israeli ground troops

Israel, at war in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 attack, has expanded its military campaign to secure its northern border and ensure the safe return of more than 60,000 people displaced by Hezbollah attacks over the past year.

A target of one of its recent Beirut strikes was Hashem Safieddine, a potential successor as Hezbollah head to Nasrallah who was killed a week ago, US news site Axios reported, citing three unidentified Israeli officials.

The Israeli military did not confirm the report when questioned by AFP.

Israel announced this week that its troops had started “ground raids” into parts of southern Lebanon, a stronghold of Hezbollah, after days of heavy bombardment of areas across the country where the group holds sway.

Israel told Lebanese people Thursday to “immediately” evacuate more than 20 villages and the city of Nabatiyeh.

Hezbollah said it fought off Israeli troops on the border and set off two explosive devices against advancing soldiers.

Israel said Thursday it had killed 15 Hezbollah fighters in a strike on Bint Jbeil, an area heavily damaged during Israel’s last war in 2006.

The Lebanese military said one of its soldiers was killed when “the Israeli enemy targeted an army post in the Bint Jbeil area”, prompting retaliatory fire.

More than 40 paramedics and firefighters have been killed by Israeli fire in three days, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said.

Lebanon’s health ministry said early Friday that 37 people were killed and 151 wounded by Israeli strikes over the previous 24 hours.

The Israeli military said nine of its soldiers have been killed in combat in Lebanon.

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The latest strikes came after Hezbollah-backer Iran launched its second direct missile attack on Israel.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is expected to elaborate on Iran’s thinking in a sermon at the main weekly Muslim prayers in Tehran on Friday, his first in nearly five years.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is meanwhile due to land in Beirut for talks with Lebanese officials, NNA reported.

As Israel weighs retaliation for the Iranian missile strike, President Joe Biden said the United States was “discussing” possible Israeli strikes on Iranian oil facilities, in comments that sent oil prices spiking five percent.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned that “those who attack the state of Israel, pay a heavy price”.

Iran, which arms and funds Lebanon’s Hezbollah, said it would step up its response if Israel counterattacked.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said its missiles were fired in retaliation for Nasrallah’s killing in Beirut alongside that of a general in the Guards’ Quds force, as well as for the killing in July of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Israel intercepted most of the 200 missiles launched by Iran. In the West Bank, a Palestinian was killed by shrapnel.

‘Scared for our children’

The impact of the war was also felt in Syria, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor saying Thursday an Israeli strike in Damascus killed four people, including Hassan Jaafar al-Qasir, Nasrallah’s son-in-law.

The fighting comes as many Israelis observe Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year.

Rony Eli-Ya, 37, an Israeli on a pilgrimage to Ukraine’s Uman, said it was “a miracle, not a single rocket killed a single Jew” in Iran’s attack.

In Beirut, 35-year-old displaced nurse Fatima Salah said residents were “scared for our children, and this war is going to be long”.

Calls for restraint have multiplied but months of similar calls to halt fighting in Gaza failed to bring a ceasefire.

On the Gaza front, the military said a strike three months ago killed three senior Hamas leaders, including Rawhi Mushtaha.

Hezbollah began strikes on Israeli troops a day after Hamas staged its October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 41,788 people, the majority of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations has described the figures as reliable.

The ministry toll Thursday included 99 fatalities over the past 24 hours.