An Israeli airstrike hit Beirut on Friday, killing at least eight people and wounding nearly 60 others, Lebanese health officials said. The strike, the first such Israeli attack on Lebanon’s capital in months, came shortly after Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with 140 rockets.
Hezbollah said that its attacks had targeted several Israeli military sites along the border with Katyusha rockets, including multiple air defense bases as well as the headquarters of an Israeli armored brigade they said they’d struck for the first time.
In Gaza, Palestinian authorities said 15 people were killed overnight in multiple Israeli attacks.
Israel maintains it only targets militants and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The military, which rarely comments on individual strikes, had no immediate comment.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children.
Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. They have come close to a full-blown war on several occasions.
Here’s the latest:
Israel carries out ‘targeted’ airstrike on Beirut
An Israeli airstrike hit Beirut on Friday, killing at least eight people and wounding nearly 60 others in the first such Israeli attack on Lebanon’s capital in months.
The Israeli strike on Beirut’s crowded southern suburbs hit during rush hour, as people headed home from work and children left school. Local networks broadcast footage that showed at least two buildings completely flattened and the main street ravaged in Dahiyeh, just kilometers from downtown Beirut where Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group holds sway.
An Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes security matters said the strike targeted Ibrahim Akil, a senior Hezbollah military official. It was not immediately clear whether he was killed.
The strike came after Hezbollah pounded Israel with 140 rockets earlier Friday and tensions threaten to spill into all-out war.
US says there is still time for a diplomatic solution
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration continues to hold on to hope that surging tensions between Israel and Hezbollah won’t escalate into all-out war following Israel Defense Forces air strike Friday near Beirut.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said he was unaware of Israel providing the U.S. any forewarning ahead of the operation.
“We still believe that there is time and space for a diplomatic solution,” Kirby said. “We think that that is the best way forward. War is not inevitable up there at the Blue Line. And we’re going to continue to do everything we can to prevent it.”
The Israeli strikes near Beirut followed two waves of deadly attacks earlier this week of hundreds of hand-held pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah militants exploding. The sophisticated sabotage operations are widely believed to be carried out by Israel.
The White House has declined to publicly comment on the electronic device attacks beyond saying the U.S. was not involved.
Palestinian authorities say 15 people killed overnight in Gaza
Palestinian authorities say 15 people were killed overnight in the Gaza Strip in multiple Israeli attacks.
An airstrike early Friday morning in Gaza City hit a family home, killing six people including an unknown number of children, Gaza’s Civil Defense said. Another person was killed in Gaza City when a strike hit a group of people on a street.
In Beit Hanoun, north of Gaza City, another person was killed and several others injured when a vehicle was hit by an Israeli strike, the Civil Defense said.
Late Thursday, six more people were killed in a strike that hit a home in the center of Gaza City, while another was killed in Beit Lahya, north of Gaza City.
Israel maintains it only targets militants and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The military, which rarely comments on individual strikes, had no immediate comment.
The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.
Israel challenges international court request for arrest warrants
Israel’s foreign ministry said Friday it submitted two legal briefs in response to the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against the country’s leaders.
The court’s prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas leaders. One of them was since assassinated in what was believed to be an Israeli strike.
The foreign ministry said it has submitted two legal briefs challenging the court’s jurisdiction to arrest Israeli leaders and claiming the court did not provide Israel the opportunity to investigate itself before requesting the warrants.
“No other democracy with an independent and respected legal system like that which exists in Israel has been treated in this prejudicial manner by the Prosecutor,” wrote Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein on the social media platform X. He said Israel remained “steadfast in its commitment to the rule of law and justice” and would continue to protect its citizens against militancy.
Israel is not a party to the court. Rights groups say the country has struggled to investigate itself in the past. Netanyahu has brushed off calls for a state investigation into the failings that led to the Oct. 7 attack.
Leader of Iraqi militia reportedly killed in Syria
BAGHDAD — A leader of an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia was killed Friday in a strike in Syria, a war monitor and a militia official said.
Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah group — which is different from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah — said in a statement that Abu Haidar al-Khafaji was killed “while performing his duties as a security advisor in Damascus.”
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had earlier reported that a leader in Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah group was killed and another person injured in a drone strike on the car they were traveling in on the road to the Damascus airport.
An official with an Iraqi militia confirmed that a car carrying a group of militia members was struck in Damascus, killing one person and injuring three others. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
There was no comment from Israeli officials on the strike. Israel frequently strikes Iranian and Iran-linked groups in Syria but rarely acknowledges the strikes.
Tensions have heightened in the region following a wave of apparently remotely detonated explosions in Lebanon targeting pagers and walkie talkies belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah. The attacks, widely blamed on Israel, which has not commented on them, killed at least 37 people – including two children – and wounded about 3,000.
— By Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad
Israel military says it killed 2 Hezbollah members planting explosives along the border
BEIRUT — Israel’s military killed two Hezbollah members who were planting explosives along the border over the weekend, Israel’s military and an official with a Lebanese group said.
The official with a Lebanese group said the two members of the militant group were killed Sunday and their bodies were taken by Israeli troops because they were too close to the fence along the tense frontier. The official spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
On Thursday, Israel’s military released a video it said was taken by one of the fighters showing the militants coming under fire. The military said that the two fighters were killed by Israeli troops as they tried to plant an improvised explosive device near a military post.
In the days following the tense border interaction, thousands of devices exploded in different parts of Lebanon and Syria, killing 37 people and wounding around 3,000 others. The attack was blamed on Israel, and many of those killed or injured were members of Hezbollah.
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Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report.
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