Key Points
- An Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese capital Beirut has killed 45 people, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said.
- According to the Israeli military, senior Hezbollah commanders were the targets. The group later confirmed that they had been killed.
- The strike follows days of attacks in Lebanon that saw pagers and walkie-talkies explode and dozens of people killed.
The death toll from an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb that killed a top Hezbollah commander and other senior figures has risen to 45, Lebanon’s health minister said.
The strike hit Beirut on Saturday and the Health Ministry initially put the death toll at 14. On Sunday it said 45 people had been killed in the explosion.
Health Minister Firass Abiad had earlier told reporters that 68 people were injured, 15 of whom remain in hospital.
Three children were among those killed in the deadliest Israeli airstrike on Beirut since the war between Israel and Hezbollah in the summer of 2006.
Hezbollah reported that 16 of its members were among the dead, including senior leader Ibrahim Aqil and another senior commander, Ahmed Wahbi.
The militant group called the attack a “treacherous Israeli assassination”.
A security source said at least six other Hezbollah commanders were killed when multiple rockets hit the opening of a building’s garage. The explosion ripped through the lower floors of the building as Aqil was meeting with other commanders inside.
Witnesses said they heard a loud whistle and several consecutive explosions at the time of the attack.
Local broadcasters showed groups of people gathering at the scene, reporting that they were searching for people who were in the area and were still missing, mostly children.
Drones continued to fly over Beirut’s southern suburbs for hours after the strike.
According to a security source, the attack was carried out with rockets that landed in the opening of a building’s garage. Source: MONKEY / Bilal Hussein/AP
In a brief statement released to Israeli media, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s goals are clear and its actions speak for themselves.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who said this week that Israel was entering a new phase of the war on its northern border, posted on X: “The series of actions in the new phase will continue until our goal is achieved: the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes.”
Hezbollah fires back
The attack was a new blow to Hezbollah, after two days of attacks on the group in which in which 39 people were killed and thousands injured.
These attacks were widely believed to have been carried out by Israel. However, Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
On Thursday evening, the Israeli military carried out its most intensive airstrikes in southern Lebanon since the conflict broke out almost a year ago.
The attack marked the second time in less than two months that Israel targeted a top Hezbollah military commander in Beirut. In July the group’s top military commander.
The Israeli military reported warning sirens in northern Israel following the recent attack on Beirut, and Israeli media reported heavy rocket fire there.
Hezbollah said it twice fired Katyusha rockets at what it described as its main intelligence headquarters in northern Israel, “responsible for assassinations.”
Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border since Hezbollah began shelling Israel on its own initiative out of sympathy for the Palestinians, while at the same time there is war in the Gaza Strip.
Israel, which last waged all-out war against Hezbollah 18 years ago, has said it will use force if necessary to ensure its citizens can return.
Israel defends Aqil killing, UN calls for diplomatic solution
According to the Israeli military, Aqil had been Hezbollah’s head of operations since 2004 and was responsible for a plan to carry out an attack on northern Israel similar to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7 that sparked the war in Gaza.
Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people during the group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, taking about 250 hostages. The Israeli military’s retaliatory attack on Gaza has killed more than 41,000 people, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.
“The Hezbollah commanders we took out today had been planning their ‘October 7’ on the northern border for years,” said Israeli army chief Gen. Herzi Halevi.
“We have reached them, and we will reach anyone who threatens the safety of Israeli citizens.”
People gather in front of a damaged building after the strike in Beirut. Source: MONKEY / Wael Hamzeh/EPA
Jeanine-Hennis Plasschaert, United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, said Friday’s strike in a densely populated area on the southern outskirts of Beirut was part of “an extremely dangerous cycle of violence with devastating consequences”.
“This has to stop now. A diplomatic way out is still possible,” she said.
According to the U.S. State Department website, the United States has placed a $7 million ($10.2 million) bounty on Aqil’s head for his involvement in the deadly 1983 bombing of Marines in Lebanon.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said he was not aware of any Israeli notification to the United States prior to the Beirut attack. He added that Americans were urged not to travel to Lebanon, or to leave if they were there.
However, he added that “war is not inevitable… and we will continue to do everything we can to try to prevent it”.
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