Israel conducted a fatal air raid on a Hezbollah rescue facility in central Beirut on Thursday, according to Lebanese sources, following the deaths of multiple Israeli ground troops near the border. This marks the second strike on the capital's center this week, following Iran's largest missile attack on its arch-foe Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tehran that it would pay for its 'big mistake.' Iran, which supports Hezbollah, threatened to escalate its response if Israel retaliates, despite calls for de-escalation in a conflict that has claimed over 1,000 lives in Lebanon.
The latest Israeli strike targeted a Hezbollah rescue facility, killing at least six people, according to a Lebanese health ministry tally. AFP journalists in Beirut reported a loud explosion and shaking buildings. Israel, shifting its focus from the Gaza war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack, aims to secure its border with Lebanon, allowing tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to return home. Israel has bombarded Hezbollah's stronghold in south Beirut, having dealt a significant blow to the group last week by killing its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in a massive strike.
A day after its military announced 'targeted ground raids' in south Lebanon, Israel reported the first death of a soldier in the Israel-Hezbollah war, with the toll later rising to eight. Hezbollah claimed to have forced Israeli soldiers to retreat, targeted an Israeli unit with explosives, and destroyed three Merkava tanks with rockets as they advanced on Maroun al-Ras village. The Israeli military staged two brief invasions into Lebanon, ordering residents to flee more than 20 areas. It released footage showing soldiers inside Lebanon, moving through villages and mountainous areas on foot, and announced the deployment of a second division to support the fighting.
Israel launched three air raids on Beirut's southern suburbs just before midnight Wednesday, the third wave of strikes in the past 24 hours. The explosions were audible kilometers away. Residents in southern Beirut were told by the Israeli military to evacuate the area in the early hours of Thursday. Lebanon's health ministry reported 46 deaths and 85 injuries from Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours. Earlier, Lebanon's disaster management agency stated that 1,928 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah began exchanging cross-border fire after the Gaza war erupted nearly a year ago.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported that an Israeli strike in Damascus killed four people, including Hassan Jaafar al-Qasir, son-in-law of the slain Hezbollah leader. Hours after Israel announced the start of ground operations in Lebanon, Iran fired some 200 missiles, including hypersonic weapons, sending frightened Israeli civilians into shelters. Israel claimed to have intercepted most of them, with two people wounded by shrapnel and a school building damaged. The Israeli military stated that several Iranian missiles struck inside air force bases without causing casualties or damage.
In Jericho in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian was killed when 'pieces of a rocket fell from the sky and hit him,' according to the city's governor Hussein Hamayel. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned that 'those who attack the state of Israel will pay a heavy price.' President Joe Biden expressed the US's 'full support' for Israel but ruled out supporting a strike on Iran's nuclear sites. Iran's armed forces chief of staff, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, threatened to retaliate 'with bigger intensity' if Israel follows through on its pledge to retaliate. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also warned of a 'stronger' response, though he emphasized that Iran is 'not looking for war.'
Iran's Revolutionary Guards stated that the missiles were fired in retaliation for Nasrallah's killing alongside its Quds Force commander Abbas Nilforoushan, as well as Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a Tehran bombing in July. In Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv, resident Liron Yori expressed his disappointment, saying, 'I see where the war's going and I don't feel comfortable with it.' In central Beirut, people were weary and afraid, though some Hezbollah supporters remained defiant. Youssef Amir, displaced from southern Lebanon, said, 'I have lost my home and relatives in this war, but all of that is a sacrifice for Lebanon, for Hezbollah.'
Iran's missile attack, its second on Israel in six months, triggered widespread global alarm and a spike in world oil prices. UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the Iranian attack on Israel, stating that it 'does nothing to support the cause of the Palestinian people.' The G7 group of rich nations vowed to work together to reduce tensions in the region, stating that a diplomatic solution is 'still possible.' Hezbollah began low-intensity strikes on Israeli troops a day after Hamas staged its October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,689 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable. In Gaza, the health ministry reported 51 deaths over the past 24 hours.
