Unprecedented Israeli airstrikes put Lebanon on the brink

 By Ahram online 

Lebanese army soldiers and people gather at the scene of Israeli air strikes in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood of Beirut's southern suburbs on September 27, 2024. AFP

Israeli jetfighters carried out unprecedented airstrikes against southern Beirut on Friday afternoon levelling several buildings to the ground in an apparent attempt on the life of Secretary General of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah.

President Joe Biden ordered US forces in the Middle East to be adjusted "as necessary," the White House said Friday, after Israel launched a wave of strikes in Lebanon's capital Beirut targeting Hezbollah's headquarters.

"He has directed the Pentagon to assess and adjust as necessary US force posture in the region to enhance deterrence, ensure force protection, and support the full range of US objectives," the White House said in a statement.

The Israeli army claimed on Saturday that it was conducting strikes targeting Hezbollah weapons stored beneath residential buildings in the south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

"The IDF (military) is currently conducting targeted strikes on weapons belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation that were stored beneath civilian buildings" in a southern suburb of Beirut, the army said in a statement.

The Israeli army vowed late Friday to prevent Iran from transferring weapons to Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah through Beirut airport, saying its fighter jets were patrolling the skies above.

The Israeli army said late Friday it would strike three buildings in south Beirut "in a short while" where it claimed the Lebanese group Hezbollah had stored weapons, and called on residents to evacuate them.

"In a short while, we will attack the weapons under these buildings. The force of the explosions as a result of the missiles which are under the buildings may cause damage to the buildings and even their collapse," the Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said at a televised briefing.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned Israel's air strikes on the Lebanese capital's densely populated southern suburbs Friday as a "flagrant war crime."

"The attacks perpetrated ... by the Zionist regime in the Dahiya neighbourhood of Beirut constitute a flagrant war crime that has revealed once again the nature of this regime's state terrorism," Pezeshkian said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency early Saturday.

Israel said its strikes targeted the "central headquarters" of Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah.

Israel's warned residents of several areas in south Beirut bastion on Friday to evacuate their homes, after conducting a wave of strikes on the densely populated district.

"You are located near Hezbollah interests and for your safety and the safety of your loved ones, you must evacuate the buildings and stay at a distance of at least 500 metres (yards) from them," military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged the international community to "stop" Israel from waging a "genocidal war" against Lebanon, following the Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs.

"This new Israeli aggression proves that the Israeli enemy doesn't care about all the international efforts and calls for a ceasefire," Mikati, who is in New York, said in a statement issued by his office, urging the international community to stop the "genocidal war that it (Israel) is waging on Lebanon."

The Iranian embassy in Lebanon condemned a series of intense Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs Friday, warning of a "dangerous escalation" in the Middle East.

"This reprehensible crime... represents a dangerous escalation that changes the rules of the game," the Iranian embassy said in a post on X, adding that Israel "will receive the appropriate punishment"

Lebanon's health ministry said in a preliminary toll that two people have been killed and 76 wounded in the Israeli strikes.

"The successive Israeli enemy strikes on Haret Hreik in Beirut's southern suburbs, in a preliminary toll, killed two people and wounded 76, including... 15 that required hospitalisation," a ministry statement said.

"The UN is watching with great alarm" the strikes on Beirut, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a briefing.

Al Jazeera TV aired footage showing dust and dense black-smoke clouds billowing out of various parts of the densely-populated southern parts of the Lebanese capital.

"I am looking at the massive amount of destruction all around me with three or four buildings levelled," Mazen Ibrahim, the chief of Al Jazeera's Lebanon Bureau, said.

The Israeli jetfighters striked the area known as Al-Amriya in the Haret Hriyek district near the Old Airport Road and Bourj Al-Barajna, according to an Al Jazeera reporter on the ground in Beirut.

It was the sixth time that Israeli jetfighters bombed southern Beirut since Monday.

Videos circulating on social media showed massive explosions which destroyed entire buildings in the southern district and rocked the whole capital.

The Israeli army spokesperson said Israeli jet fighters had targeted the headquarters of Hezbollah in southern Beirut.

The Israeli news outlet Yediot Ahronot reported that the strikes were an assassination attempt of the Secretary-General of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah.

Israeli media reported that the Israeli F-35 jet fighters dropped 2,000-pound, bunker-buster bombs on several buildings in the area which was attacked.

Shortly after Israeli reports on the attack, Iran's Tasnim News Agency said Hassan Nasrallah was in a safe place at the time of the targeted assassination.

Hezbollah said it would be releasing an official statement on the attack soon.

In a press conference an hour after the attack, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said the US Defense Department was not informed apriori by Israel on Friday's operation against southern Beirut.

Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin while the operation was already underway, she added.

The Israeli Army Radio had reported that Tel Aviv informed the US of its intention to assassinate Nasrallah an hour before the operation started.

Immediately after the strikes paused, hundreds of emergency medical workers rushed to the scenes of the attacks to remove rubble in search of victims and survivors.

Minutes before the attack, the Lebanese health ministry said Israeli airstrikes on various parts of the country have killed 25 civilians since Thursday night.

Israeli airstrikes on eastern and southern Lebanon have killed more than 700 and wounded hundreds of others since Monday.

 

 

Read original story and more on Ahram Online.