The Dome of the Rock mosque on the Al-Aqsa compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is seen from Jerusalem on October 1, 2024, after Iran fired a ballistic missile towards Israel.
Jamal Awad | Reuters
Israel said it had targeted Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in Beirut and was assessing the damage from a series of attacks on senior Hezbollah figures on Friday that Iran's supreme leader deemed counterproductive.
Israel has Weighing options This was in response to Iran's ballistic missile attack on Tuesday in response to Israeli military operations in Lebanon.
oil price The likelihood of attacks on Iranian oil facilities has risen as Israel pursues its goals of pushing back Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and eliminating Hamas' allies in Gaza.
The airstrikes in Beirut were reportedly part of a wider attack that has caused more than 1.2 million Lebanese to flee their homes and targeted potential successors to the leadership of Iran-backed Hezbollah. Said Hassan Nasrallahkilled by Israel a week ago.
Hashim SafieddinIts fate is unclear, with neither Israel nor Hezbollah making any comment.
Reuters witnesses said explosions were heard and smoke was seen over Beirut's southern suburbs early on Saturday, and the Israeli military issued three warnings to residents in the area, asking them to evacuate immediately.
The first alarm alerted residents of a building in the Burj al-Barajneh neighborhood, and the second alerted residents of a building in the Choueifat district. The third alert mentioned buildings in Haret Hreik and Burj al-Barajneh.
Hezbollah also said in a statement earlier on Saturday that Israeli forces were trying to infiltrate the southern Lebanese town of Odese, where fighting continued.
President of the United States Joe Biden Said on Friday he would consider alternatives to striking Iran's oil fields if he were in Israel's shoesadding that he believed Israel had not yet reached a conclusion Respond to Iran.
Biden was asked at a White House press conference whether he believed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to influence Israel by not engaging in diplomacy. November 5 U.S. election Republican former president Donald Trump Confronting the Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I don't know if he was trying to influence the election, but I don't count on that,” Biden responded. “No administration has done more to help Israel than I have.”
The Lebanese government says more than 2,000 people were killed last year, most of them in the past two weeks.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric called the civilian casualties “completely unacceptable.”
The Lebanese government accuses Israel of targeting civilians, noting that dozens of women and children have been killed. It did not break out the overall numbers between civilians and Hezbollah fighters.
Israel says it targets military capabilities and takes steps to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians. It accuses Hezbollah and Hamas of hiding among civilians, which they deny.
The U.S. State Department stated, Americans killed in Lebanon this week Washington is trying to understand the circumstances of the incident.
Kamal Ahmed Jawad, of Dearborn, Miss., was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday, according to his daughter, friends and a U.S. congresswoman who represents the area.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the department was “shocked” by the reports, adding: “It is a moral and strategic imperative for Israel to take all feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm.”
The latest bloodshed in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict comes from an attack by Palestinian Hamas militants October 7According to Israeli statistics, the attack killed 1,200 people in 2023, with about 250 of them taken hostage.
Subsequent Israeli attack on Gaza Already killed According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, more than 41,000 Palestinians Displaced Almost the entire population of Gaza, creating a hunger crisis and leading to genocide charges Israel denies this.
The Israeli military said about 70 artillery shells were fired from Lebanon into Israel on Friday night and were either intercepted or landed in open areas.
Israel this week sent ground troops to Lebanon following an Iranian missile attack. It said its ground operations were “limited” to villages near the border, but did not specify how far into Lebanon they would go or how long they would last.
Israel said the operation was aimed at returning tens of thousands of Israeli citizens to their homes after Hezbollah bombings forced them to evacuate from the north.
Iran vows not to back down
Iran's missile salvo was in part retaliation for Israel's killing of Hezbollah Secretary-General Nasrallah. .
Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a large crowd in Tehran that Iran and its regional allies won't back down.
Khamenei said in a statement that Israel's opponents in the region should “redouble their efforts and capabilities… and resist aggressive enemies.” rare occurrence He mentioned Nasrallah during Friday prayers and said Iran's attacks on Israel were legal and justified.
He said Iran would not “delay or rush in fulfilling its responsibilities” in confronting Israel.
Iran's semi-official news agency SNN on Friday quoted Revolutionary Guard deputy commander Ali Fadavi as saying that Tehran would target Israeli energy and gas facilities if Israel launched an attack.
Safieddin, a Hezbollah official rumored to be Nasrallah's successor, was targeted overnight in an underground bunker in Beirut, but his fate remains unclear, Axios reporter Barak Ravid said, citing three Israeli officials. It's not clear yet.
Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said on Friday that the military was still evaluating Thursday night's airstrike, which he said targeted Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters.
Earlier, the Israeli military reported that the head of Hezbollah's communications network, Mohammed Rashid al-Saqafi, had been killed. It declined to comment on reports that Safieddine was targeted.
Hezbollah has not commented on al-Saqafi's fate.
Khamenei said the assassination would only lead to more attacks.
“Every attack by any group against Israel is a service to the region and to all humanity,” he said, adding that Afghanistan should join the “defense” ranks.
Beirut buildings razed to the ground
In Hezbollah's stronghold on Beirut's southern outskirts, many buildings have been reduced to rubble. Almost all shops on the main market street, Moawad Souk, were damaged and the road was strewn with broken glass.
“We are still alive, but we don't know how long,” said Nouhad Chaib, a 40-year-old man who has been displaced from the south.
Eleven health care workers were killed in three Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon on Friday, the Islamic Health Authority, a civil defense agency linked to Hezbollah, said.
The Israeli military said it struck multiple weapons storage facilities, command and control centers and Hezbollah infrastructure sites in the Beirut area over the past day.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who is visiting Beirut and meeting with senior Lebanese officials, expressed Tehran's support for Lebanon's ceasefire efforts Provided it is backed by Hezbollah and coincides with a ceasefire in Gaza.