Huge air strikes hit Beirut as Israel says it targeted ‘Hezbollah headquarters’
Israel has launched a series of huge air strikes in Lebanon’s capital Beirut, targeting what it says is Hezbollah’s central headquarters.
Images showed the smouldering wreckage of several buildings in Dahieh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in the south of the city.
BBC reporters in Beirut said explosions continued for more than a minute followed by chaotic scenes with nearby roads packed with people fleeing carrying rucksacks and bags.
The Israeli military said the headquarters it targeted was located “under residential buildings”.
The attack took place shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “defeat Hezbollah” in a speech at the UN.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the latest attack showed Israel “does not care” about US-led efforts to bring about a ceasefire.
Some Israeli media reported that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the attack. Sources close to Hezbollah told news agencies that he was “fine”.
Israel has sharply escalated its campaign against the Lebanese armed group, with which it has been trading cross-border fire for nearly a year.
Air strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon this week have killed nearly 800 people, many of them civilians, Lebanese officials say.
Hezbollah has continued firing at Israel, with the Iran-backed group claiming to have hit the Ilaniya area with a “salvo of Fadi 1 missiles” on Friday morning.
On Thursday allies including the US, UK and EU called for a temporary ceasefire in Lebanon. The 12-strong bloc proposed an immediate 21-day pause in fighting “to provide space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement” and a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel has been fighting the Palestinian armed group Hamas.
However in his UN General Assembly speech Netanyahu said Israel would continue attacking Hezbollah to achieve its goal of returning about 70,000 displaced Israelis to their homes in northern Israel.
“As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice. And Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their home safely. And that’s exactly what we’re doing,” he told the UN.
Netanyahu’s office later said he had cut short his trip to the US and was returning to Israel.
In Lebanon, around 90,000 people have been displaced since Monday, adding to the 110,000 who had fled their homes already, according to the UN.
In his own speech to the UN on Thursday, Mikati warned that hospitals were no longer capable of treating people because of the sheer number of casualties from Israel’s attacks.
“Israel is violating our sovereignty by sending their war planes and drones to our skies, by killing our civilians, including youth, women and children, destroying homes and forcing families to flee under harsh humanitarian conditions,” he said.
Tensions have been growing across the Middle East since Hamas gunmen attacked Israel on 7 October last year, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others as hostages. Israel’s military response has since killed more than 41,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there.
Hezbollah began firing into Israel on 8 October, saying it was acting in solidarity with the Palestinian group. The group, proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK and other countries, has launched more than 8,000 rockets at northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. It has also fired anti-tank missiles at armoured vehicles and attacked military targets with explosive drones.
Israel had responded with thousands of its own air, drone and artillery strikes targeting Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon before ramping up its bombardment this week.