Israel attacks Beirut suburb, fate of Nasrallah uncertain after Friday’s massive attack

Israel launched airstrikes on the southern outskirts of Beirut and other parts of Lebanon on Saturday, a day after carrying out a major attack on Hezbollah headquarters in an apparent attempt to kill Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

The fate of Nasrallah, the Iranian-backed group’s leader for 32 years, remains uncertain, and Hezbollah has yet to issue a statement on his status.

Reuters reporters heard there were more than 20 airstrikes on Beirut before dawn on Saturday, and more after sunrise. Smoke was seen rising in the city’s southern suburbs, which are controlled by Hezbollah, known as Dahiyeh.

Since Friday’s attack, thousands of people have evacuated the area and gathered in downtown Beirut and seaside squares, parks and sidewalks.

“They are trying to destroy Dahiyeh, and they are trying to destroy us all,” said Salih, a man in his 30s who gave only his first name, referring to the suburb he fled after receiving Israeli evacuation orders. did. Nearby, newly displaced people from Beirut’s Martyrs Square rolled mats on the ground and tried to sleep.

The Israeli military said a missile fired toward central Israel on Saturday landed in an open field. Earlier, the military announced that about 10 projectiles had entered Israeli territory from Lebanon, some of which had been intercepted.

The Israeli military also said it had been attacking Hezbollah targets in the Bekaa Valley on the Syrian border in eastern Lebanon over the past week.

Friday’s attack was followed by five hours of continuous Israeli attacks on Beirut in the early hours of Saturday, the first such attacks by Israel on Beirut during the nearly year-long conflict with Hezbollah that has been unfolding alongside the Gaza war. became the most powerful.

The escalation has sharply raised concerns that the conflict could spiral out of control and involve not only the United States but also Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer.

It was not immediately possible to confirm Nasrallah’s well-being after Friday’s violent attack, but a source close to Hezbollah told Reuters he could not be contacted.

Israel has not said whether it tried to attack Nasrallah, but a senior Israeli official said Hezbollah leaders were targeted.

“I think it’s too early to say…even if we succeed, they sometimes hide the facts,” an Israeli official told reporters when asked if Nasrallah was killed in Friday’s attack. .

Earlier, sources close to Hezbollah told Reuters that Nasrallah was alive.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency also reported that he was safe. A senior Iranian security official told Reuters that the Iranian government was investigating his identity.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it had killed Muhammad Ali Ismail, the commander of Hezbollah’s missile force, and his deputy Hossein Ahmed Ismail.

This week, Israeli attacks in Lebanon expanded to new areas. On Saturday, the Lebanese mountain town of Bamdoun, southeast of Beirut, was struck by airstrikes, Mark Dow, a Lebanese lawmaker from the area, told Reuters.

Walid Khairala, the mayor of Bamdoun, told Reuters the strike hit a large open area and there were no casualties.

Hours before the barrage, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the United Nations that his country had the right to continue the operation.

“As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice, and Israel has every right to eliminate this threat and return its people safely to their homeland.”

Several delegates left as Prime Minister Netanyahu approached the podium. He then cut short his trip to New York and returned to Israel.

Lebanese health authorities confirmed that six people were killed and 91 injured in the first attack on Friday. It was the fourth such attack in Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs in a week and the largest since the 2006 war.

It seems likely that tolls will increase further. No word on casualties from the subsequent attack. More than 700 people have been killed in strikes over the past week, authorities said.

Hezbollah’s al-Manar television reported that seven buildings were destroyed.

Hours later, the Israeli military called on residents in some southern Beirut suburbs to evacuate, saying they had targeted missile launch pads and weapons storage areas beneath civilian homes.

Hezbollah denied in a statement that there were any weapons or armories in the building that was attacked on the outskirts of Beirut.

Alaa al-Din Said, a neighbor identified as a target by Israel, told Reuters he had fled with his wife and three children.

“I found out about it on TV. There was a lot of uproar in the neighborhood,” he said. The family got clothes, ID and cash, but got stuck in traffic with others trying to flee.

“We’re going to the mountains. Let’s see how we spend the night and see what we can do tomorrow.”

Around 100,000 people have been forced to flee Lebanon this week, with well over 200,000 now firmly established in the country.

The Israeli government has said the aim of the war is to return some 70,000 Israeli refugees to their homes.

Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets and missiles at targets inside Israel, including Tel Aviv. The group said Friday that a rocket was fired into the northern Israeli city of Safed, injuring a woman slightly.

Israeli air defense systems have so far kept damage to a minimum.

Iran said Friday’s attack crossed a “red line” and accused Israel of using a U.S.-made “bunker-busting” bomb.

The escalation prompted expressions of concern at the United Nations, which held its annual general meeting this week, including from France, which along with the United States has proposed a 21-day ceasefire.

“We believe the path forward is through diplomacy, not conflict, and we will continue to work intentionally with all parties to choose that path,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference in New York. I will encourage them to do so.”

Hezbollah opened the latest bout in the decades-long conflict with a barrage of missiles against Israel, shortly after the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel in the Gaza Strip on October 7 last year.