The Israeli military said it has carried out a “targeted strike” in the Lebanese capital, claiming to have hit near key Hezbollah facilities in Dahiyeh.
“The [Israeli military] conducted a targeted strike in Beirut. At this moment, there are no changes in the Home Front Command defensive guidelines,” it said, providing no further details.
The target was Hezbollah’s operations commander Ibrahim Aqil, who serves on the group’s top military body, two security sources in Lebanon and Israeli Army Radio said
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut, said Dahiyeh is considered a Hezbollah stronghold.
“This is a major escalation. We are getting reports this could be a targeted assassination,” she said.
“It is not the first time that Beirut’s southern suburb is targeted, but images emerging from the scene show a building almost totally destroyed, so it is likely there will be civilian casualties.”
Zein Basravi, reporting from Amman because Al Jazeera is banned in Israel by the government, said Israeli media have been reporting that a very senior official of Hezbollah was the target of this attack.
“The Israeli army has put out warnings to the Israeli people, saying everything is on the table and to be prepared,” he said.
“There are now renewed calls for people to stay near bomb shelters.”
Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets
Earlier on Friday, Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with about 170 rockets since the morning, a day after the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah promised to retaliate against Israel for a mass bombing attack, according to the updates from the Israeli military.
Approximately 150 rockets were fired before Israel’s attack on Beirut while some 20 were launched following the strike.
The Iran-backed group confirmed the attacks without giving numbers.
Israel’s military said the rockets came in multiple waves on Friday afternoon, targeting sites along the ravaged border with Lebanon.
Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have soared following two days of sabotage attacks blamed on Israel that set off explosives in thousands of communications devices, killing at least 37 people and injuring nearly 3,000 people, including civilians.
But Hezbollah said the rockets were in retaliation for Israeli attacks on villages and homes in southern Lebanon.
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli air strike on Lebanon’s southern village of Kfar Kila, on September 20 [Rabih Daher/AFP]
The Israeli military claimed the barrage of rockets caused no injuries and that rescue services were working to put out fires sparked by falling debris.
It listed the targeted areas as the occupied Golan Heights, the Upper Galilee region and the town of Safed.
Videos from northern Israel posted online showed rockets being intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome system, as sirens were heard in the background.
The military said its air defences took down some of the rockets, while others fell in open areas.
The incoming fire came after the Israeli military said it struck dozens of rocket launchers overnight that were ready for use against Israel.
For nearly a year, Hezbollah has engaged in near-daily exchanges of fire with Israeli forces along the Lebanon-Israel border in support of Hamas. Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border have also been forced to flee their homes due to the fighting.
Rami Khoury, a professor at the American University of Beirut told Al Jazeera that “Israel is on “a rampage,” emboldened by the US’s unwavering support to “do anything they want”.H
He said an escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah appears inevitable, but added that he does not believe an all-out regional war to be imminent.
Khoury reminded that Israel has long sought to defeat Hezbollah, which is better equipped than Hamas and has closer ties to Iran
“The problem is it has tried this many times without success,” Khoury added.
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