Israel inflicts heavy blow on Hezbollah days after pager massacre

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Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty has said, “All efforts must be exerted to prevent further escalation in the region and restore stability in Lebanon”.

Abdelatty made the comments after a meeting with Amos Hochstein, a US envoy who has been tasked with de-escalating tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border.

FM Abdelatty meets with the U.S. Envoy to Lebanon, Amos Hochstein. All efforts must be exerted to prevent further escalation in the region and restore stability in Lebanon. @amoshochstein pic.twitter.com/imJBhrJHxB

— Egypt MFA Spokesperson (@MfaEgypt) September 20, 2024

Lebanon's foreign minister on Friday called the detonation of hand-held communication devices this week a "terror" attack which he blamed on Israel.

The blasts that killed dozens across Lebanon over two days is "an unprecedented method of warfare in its brutality and terror," Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told the United Nations Security Council, calling the attack "nothing but terrorism."

Lebanon's Iran-aligned Hezbollah group confirmed in the early hours of Saturday that its top military commander Ibrahim Aqil was killed, calling him "one of its top leaders", without providing further details on his killing.

The Israeli military and a security source in Lebanon said Ibrahim Aqil was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut earlier on Friday.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin voiced fresh concern on Friday over escalation between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah during his sixth call with his Israeli counterpart in less than a week, and urged a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.

Austin's focus on diplomacy in his statement came after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke of a new phase of war.

Israel announced on Friday it killed a top Hezbollah commander and other senior figures in the Lebanese movement in an airstrike on Beirut.

The strike followed two days of attacks on the group in which its members' pagers and walkie-talkies exploded, killing 37 people and wounding thousands. Those attacks were widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.

The Pentagon said in a statement that Austin reiterated to Gallant "his concern over the current escalation of exchanges between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah."

That language was identical to a statement from Major General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, on Thursday after another call between Austin and Gallant.

"The secretary strongly reemphasized the importance of reaching a diplomatic resolution that enables residents to return safely to their homes on both sides of the border," the Pentagon said after Friday's call.

The United Nations on Friday denounced the detonation of hand-held devices used by Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon, saying the attack violated international law and could constitute a war crime.

"International humanitarian law prohibits the use of booby-trap devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects," the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, told the Security Council, adding that it "is a war crime to commit violence intended to spread terror among civilians."

The Lebanese Health Ministry says 14 people have been confirmed dead in the Israeli strike on south Beirut

More casualties are expected.

Reaching a Gaza ceasefire deal is still realistic, U.S. President Joe Biden said at the White House on Friday, telling reporters: "We have to keep at it."

Asked about the impact of fighting elsewhere in the region, Biden also said: "We have to make sure that the people of northern Israel as well as southern Lebanon are able to get back to their homes, and get back safely."

US President Joe Biden said Friday he was working to allow people to return to their homes on the Israeli-Lebanon border, in his first comments since a wave of explosions targeting Hezbollah sent tensions soaring.

Biden added that it was crucial to keep pushing for a Gaza ceasefire to underpin regional peace, despite a media report that his administration had given up hope of securing a truce before he leaves office in January.

Speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting in the White House, Biden told reporters he wanted to "make sure that the people in northern Israel as well as southern Lebanon are able to go back to their homes, to go back safely."

"And the secretary of state, the secretary of defense, our whole team are working with the intelligence community to try to get that done. We're going to keep at it until we get it done, but we've got a way to go," Biden said.

Lebanon said 12 people were killed Friday giving a new toll for the Israeli strike on Hezbollah's southern Beirut stronghold -- a densely packed residential area where civil defence said two buildings had collapsed.

"The number of martyrs in the Israeli enemy strike on Beirut's southern suburbs rose to 12 people with 66 wounded, including nine in critical condition," the ministry said, adding rescuers were still looking through the rubble.

The Israeli military said on Friday that it had killed top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil and other senior commanders of the movement's Radwan special forces unit, in a strike on southern Beirut.

Hezbollah has not confirmed Aqil's death.

Iran's embassy in Lebanon has condemned what it has called "Israeli madness that has crossed all lines" in a post on X.

The post follows an Israeli strike on a Beirut suburb which killed at least 9 people and wounded 59 others, including 8 critically injured.

The death toll from an Israeli strike on Beirut has risen to nine, with 59 wounded, including 8 critically injured, a department of Lebanon's Health Ministry has said.

At least 13 Palestinians have been killed by an Israeli strike that hit two homes in Rafah, southern Gaza, Medical sources say.

Hezbollah says it has launched fresh Katyusha rocket strikes on the main Israeli intelligence headquarters in northern Israel, which it says is "responsible for the assassinations".

 Lebanon's Health Ministry reports at least 8 killed, 59 wounded in Israeli strike on Beirut.

Lebanon's health ministry said that three people have been killed and 17 wounded in Israeli strike on south Beirut.

A source close to Lebanon's Hezbollah said an Israeli strike on Friday killed the group's elite Radwan unit chief, while Israel said it had conducted a "targeted strike".

"The Israeli air strike killed Radwan Force commander Ibrahim Aqil, its armed force's second-in-command after Fuad Shukr," who an Israeli strike killed in July, also in Hezbollah's southern Beirut stronghold, said the source who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

At least five people, including children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on south Beirut targeting Hezbollah on Friday afternoon, according to Lebanese state news agency National News Agency.

NNA said an Israeli jet struck a building on Jamous Street which killed five children.

Sources close to Hezbollah said the strike killed an elite unit chief, without revealing who.

The strikes hit the densely population Dahiyeh area, recognised for its affiliation with Hezbollah as well as communities of Shia, Sunni and migrant families.

Footage of the aftermath shows chaotic scenes with streets strewn with debris, ambulances and smashed cars.

The target of Israel's strike in Beirut on Friday was Hezbollah's operations commander Ibrahim Aqil, Israeli Army Radio reporting, citing an unnamed security source, Reuters reported.

Aqil was placed on the United States sanction list in 2015 alongside Hezbollah official Fuad Shukr, who was killed by Israel in in a strike on Beirut on 30 July.

Israeli strike on southern Beirut's suburbs known as Dahiyeh has killed and wounded people, according to a report from Hezbollah affiliated Al-Manar TV.

The attack hit al-Qaim area of Dahiyeh with footage of the aftermath showing streets strewn with rubble, cars damaged and smoke rising from a residential building which appears to have been the target.

Early reports are indicating that a senior Hezbollah member was the targeted. Israel said it had conducted a strike on Beirut but did not reveal further details.

Local media has reported an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's Dahieh neighbourhood.

The Israeli military has confirmed on Telegram that it carried out a "targeted strike" in Beirut and said there are "no changes in the Home Front Command defensive guidelines".

Israel's military has said it has captured the bodies of two Hezbollah fighters who had attempted to plant an explosive device near an Israeli outpost along the Lebanon-Israel border.

The army released footage it says was taken from the GoPro camera of the fighters. A third fighter escaped back into Lebanon, according to the army.
 

Israeli public broadcaster Kan said on Friday around 150 rockets were fired from Lebanon across the border.

Israeli ambulance service said there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Lebanon's Hezbollah announced on Friday they launched seven separate attacks on Israeli targets with Katyusha rockets. 

Hezbollah said it fired barrages of rockets at Israeli military bases Friday in retaliation for strikes on south Lebanon, as tensions soared following deadly sabotage attacks on its communications devices.

The group said it launched "salvos of Katyusha rockets" against at least six Israeli "army headquarters" and bases, including a "main air defence base", while the Israeli army said some 60 rockets were fired into Israeli territory.

The Israeli military said some 60 rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon on Friday, as sirens rang out in northern Israel.

"A barrage of some 60 rockets was fired at 1:02 pm (1002 GMT)," a military spokeswoman told AFP.

The incoming fire came after the Israeli military said it struck dozens of rocket launchers overnight.

The batteries of the walkie-talkies used by Lebanese armed group Hezbollah that blew up this week were laced with a highly explosive compound known as PETN, a Lebanese source familiar with the device's components told Reuters.

Lebanon’s Health Minister has said Israel's attacks in the country have "failed" to undermine the will of the Lebanese people.

“I want to send a message to anyone who thinks that these attacks will undermine the will and determination of this people. I say to them that your plan has failed,” Firas Abiad was quoted by by Lebanon’s National News Agency as saying.

Palestinian factions issued statements on Thursday hailing the speech given by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

Hamas said that it appreciated what was stated in Nasrallah's speech, and hailed "the honourable position of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon", according to a Telegram statement.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)  also expressed its "deep appreciation and pride", adding that Hezbollah's position represents "the failure of the plans that aim to target the resistance".

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said that the speech reflected "the confidence in the ability of the resistance to overcome the blows, continue to develop its capabilities and learn lessons".

The Israeli army has lifted restrictions on northern residents instructing them to stay near bomb shelters after the military alleged it had struck dozens rocket launchers belonging to Hezbollah, Israeli media reported this morning.

Yesterday, the Israeli army had issued instructions for residents of numerous northern towns and cities to remain near bomb shelters throughout the night amid an escalation with Hezbollah.

The Ynet news site described the instructions as "unusual". 

The Israeli army said early on Friday that it had struck 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers and other military infrastructure and about 1,000 launch barrels. 

Hezbollah leader has vowed to inflict retribution against Israel after explosions of communication devices used by the group killed more than 30 people, including children, and injured thousands others.

In a televised address on Thursday, Hassan Nasrallah called the explosions a "massive terror attack" and a "massacre".

He said that Israel aimed to kill "thousands" of people within moments, with no regard for how or where the devices would detonate.

He acknowledged the group had suffered an "unprecedented and heavy blow", but added that in conflict, "one day is in favour of the enemy and one day is in favour of us".

He added that the full circumstances of the device blasts were still under investigation, from manufacturing, to distribution, up to the time of the blasts. 

Nasrallah vowed that Israelis would not be able to return to their homes in northern Israel before an end to the conflict in Gaza.

During his address, Israeli warplanes caused sonic booms over Beirut and others struck targets in southern Lebanon.

The armed wing of the Palestinian Fatah faction, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, has announced that two senior commanders were killed by an Israeli army raid in Qabatiya, near Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

The brigades said in a Telegram statement that in addition to Mustafa Faisal Zakarna and Shady Sami Zakarna, five other fighters were also killed by Israeli forces. 

Another Telegram post carried the photos of both senior members.