Israel-Lebanon latest: ‘At least 37 killed’ in Beirut by Israeli strike which left Hezbollah leader dead
It comes as 22, including children, were reportedly killed in a strike on a Gaza school
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At least 37 people were killed by an Israeli strike in a densely populated area of Beirut on Friday, Lebanese authorities now say.
Israel says two Hezbollah leaders were among the dead, including Ibrahim Aqil, Hezbollah’s operations commander, and Ahmed Wahbi, a senior commander.
According to Lebanon, women and children were killed in the strike, which also left 68 people injured, Lebanon said.
Aqil was involved in Hezbollah’s bombing of the US embassy in Beirut which killed 63 people in April 1983, according to the US State Department.
On Saturday in Gaza, dozens of people including children were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
At least 22 people, including 13 children and six women, were killed in the attack while using the building as a shelter, the ministry added.
The Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas command centre embedded in the building previously used as a school.
Footage from the site showed blasted walls, wrecked and burnt furniture, and holes in the ceiling of one room. Witnesses said children were in the playground.
Watch: Israel-Lebanon border as Hezbollah launches 140 rockets
The Hezbollah pager attacks prove that Israel has no strategy for peace
Paging devices used by Hezbollah forces in Lebanon and Syria exploded near-simultaneously on 17 September, leaving 12 dead and almost 3,000 injured. The following day later, walkie-talkies exploded all over Lebanon, killing 20 and injuring at least 400. Both attacks are widely assumed to be the work of Israel.
The scale of the attacks, as well as their theatrical nature, can be seen as a bid by Israel’s military and intelligence forces to repair their reputation, left in tatters following the 7 October Hamas attacks.
It could also represent an attempt by Israel to address the problem of its northern border. Visiting the area this week, I have seen the effects of the continual exchanges of rocket and missile attacks, which have led to 60,000 people being evacuated from Israeli towns. According to reports, Lebanese villages have also been evacuated as a result of the fighting.
Read the full article here:
The Hezbollah pager attacks prove that Israel has no strategy for peace
With the first anniversary of 7 October approaching, Israel is no closer to a resolution of the Gaza conflict – and making terrorists’ electronic devices explode will not help, says Bronwen Maddox
Hamas mourn top Hezbollah commander
The Palestinian militant group Hamas have mourned Hezbollah’s top commander, Ibrahim Aqil, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese capital Beirut.
In a statement, they described it as a “crime” and “folly” that Israel will pay the price for.
UN urges states to use sway now over Israel, Hezbollah to avoid war
A top United Nations official has urged all countries with influence over Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah “to leverage it now” to avoid an escalation of Middle East violence.
UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo briefed the Security Council after attacks in which Hezbollah’s pagers and walkie-talkies exploded, killing 37 people and wounding thousands. The attacks were believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed or denied its involvement.
“We risk seeing a conflagration that could dwarf even the devastation and suffering witnessed so far,” DiCarlo told the 15-member council. “I also strongly urge member states with influence over the parties to leverage it now.”
What to know about the growing conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah
This week saw a dizzying escalation in the 11-month-old conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
First came two days of exploding pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah — deadly attacks pinned on Israel that also maimed civilians around Lebanon.
Hezbollah’s leader vowed to retaliate, and on Friday the militant group launched dozens of rockets into northern Israel. Later in the day, Israel said it killed the commander of Hezbollah’s most elite unit with a strike in Beirut that left at least 14 dead.
Read the full article here:
What to know about the growing conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah
This week saw a dizzying escalation in the 11-month-old conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah
UN’s Palestinian office condemns ‘disrespectful’ treatment of bodies
The UN’s human rights office in the occupied Palestinian territory has condemned footage showing what appeared to be bodies of Palestinians pushed by Israeli troops from a rooftop during a raid in the occupied West Bank on Thursday.
Posting to X, they said the videos appeared to show soldiers kicking or throwing the deceased for bulldozers to clear them away.
“Unnecessary or disrespectful treatment of human remains is not consistent with the protection of the basic human dignity of the dead and could amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of the deceased men’s families,” they said.
Hezbollah confirms death of top military commander
Hezbollah has announced the death of a top military official in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.
An official had previously confirmed that Ibrahim Akil was supposed to be in the building in the Dahiya district that was hit.
Akil has served on Hezbollah’s highest military body, the Jihad Council, and has been sanctioned by the US for being involved in two terrorist attacks in 1983 that killed more than 300 people at the US Embassy in Beirut and the US Marine Corps barracks.
Death toll from Beirut airstrike rises to 14
The Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital killed at least 14 people and wounded nearly 60 others, according to Lebanese health officials, and flattened two apartment buildings.
The Israeli military also claimed that its strike killed other “top operatives” of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, without elaborating.
A Hezbollah official has confirmed that Akil was supposed to be in the building in the Dahiya district that was hit.
Israel claim Hezbollah commanders had been planning attack on northern border
The strike marked the second time in less than two months that Israel has targeted a leading Hezbollah military commander in Beirut. In July, an Israeli airstrike killed Fuad Shukr, the group’s top military commander.
Ibrahim Aqil had a $7 million bounty on his head from the United States over his link to the deadly bombing of Marines in Lebanon in 1983, according to the U.S. State Department website.
The Israeli military said Aqil had been head of Hezbollah operations since 2004 and was responsible for a plan to launch a raid on northern Israel, similar to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that triggered the war in Gaza.
“The Hezbollah commanders we eliminated today had been planning their October 7th on the northern border for years,” Israeli army chief General Herzi Halevi said.
“We reached them, and we will reach anyone who threatens the security of Israel’s citizens.”
Lebanon strikes could ‘dwarf’ devastation seen so far, UN official says
A senior United Nations official told the Security Council on Friday that further violence between Israel and Iran-aligned groups Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon risked igniting a far more damaging conflict.
“We risk seeing a conflagration that could dwarf even the devastation and suffering witnessed so far,” UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the 15-member council, which met about attacks this week on Hezbollah.
“It is not too late to avoid such folly. There is still room for diplomacy,” she said. “I also strongly urge Member States with influence over the parties to leverage it now.”
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