An Israeli official says senior Hezbollah leaders were the target of an attack on Beirut headquarters

The Israeli army bombed Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut on Friday A series of huge explosions Which targeted the leaders of the armed group and destroyed many high-rise residential buildings in the largest explosions to hit the Lebanese capital last year. The Lebanese Ministry of Health said that at least six people were killed and 91 others were injured.

Hezbollah Senior leaders were the target of strikes on the group’s headquarters, according to a senior Israeli official, who told reporters on Friday that it was too early to confirm whether the group’s leader, Hassan NasrallahHe was killed. The Israeli army refused to comment. It was not immediately clear whether Nasrallah was at the site, and Hezbollah did not comment on the report.

The death toll from the raids is likely to rise significantly as teams are still combing through the rubble of six buildings.

The senior Israeli official said the army sought to minimize civilian casualties by striking during the day, when many people did not do so. Be at home. He added that Israel is not seeking a broader regional war, but said that Hezbollah’s military capabilities have deteriorated significantly due to a series of recent Israeli military operations, and that the Beirut strike, if successful, will leave Hezbollah with a large leadership gap.

In another possible sign of the importance of the strikes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suddenly cut short his visit to the United States and was returning home instead of waiting until the end of Saturday, his office said. Israeli politicians usually do not travel on Saturday except on matters of great importance.

Hours earlier, Netanyahu delivered a speech before the United Nations, vowing that Israel would not do that Campaign against Hezbollah It will continue – further dampening hopes for an internationally backed ceasefire. Many delegates stood up and walked out before he gave his speech.

To a degree unprecedented in previous conflicts, over the past week Israel has sought to eliminate Hezbollah’s senior leadership. Israeli army spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said that the strikes targeted Hezbollah’s headquarters, located beneath residential buildings. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s office said he was meeting with the IAF Commander and other senior leaders at the military headquarters, following the updates.

In a video clip statement Hajri, released later, said Israeli forces were “preparing to strike strategic assets that Hezbollah has hidden underground under three buildings in the heart of the Beirut suburb.” He identified the buildings where Israel claims Hezbollah stores missiles, and said residents had been contacted and warned to evacuate immediately.

The Lebanese National News Agency reported that the previous series of huge explosions at nightfall led to six buildings being reduced to rubble in the Haret Hreik neighborhood on the outskirts of Beirut. The shock wave rattled windows and shook homes about 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Beirut. Television footage showed several craters – one of them into which a car fell – amid collapsed buildings in the densely populated neighborhood, which is inhabited by a Shiite majority.

First responders were still searching the rubble hours later while others struggled to put out the fires. The Ministry of Health said that the full extent of the casualties was not immediately clear, adding that 15 of the 76 wounded were taken to hospital. Several people living in the vicinity were seen packing their belongings and fleeing along the main road out of the area.

Nasrallah has remained in hiding for years, rarely appearing in public. He regularly gives speeches, but always via video from unknown locations. The site struck on Friday evening was not publicly known as Hezbollah’s headquarters, although it is located in the party’s “security quarters,” a heavily guarded part of Haret Hreik where it has offices and operates several nearby hospitals.

The Pentagon said the United States had no advance warning about the strikes.

The White House said its national security team briefed President Biden “several times” on Friday and “directed the Pentagon to evaluate and adjust U.S. force posture in the region as necessary to enhance deterrence, ensure force protection, and support full range.” He also directed his team to ensure that US embassies in the region take all preventive measures as appropriate.

“The events of the past week and the past few hours underscore how dangerous this moment is for the Middle East and the world,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a press conference on Friday in New York. “Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorism. The way it does so matters. The choices that all parties make in the coming days will determine the course this region takes, with dire consequences for its people now and perhaps for years to come.”

Israel in a big way It intensified its air strikes in Lebanon It said this week that it was determined to put an end to more than 11 months of Hezbollah firing on its territory. The scope of the Israeli operation remains unclear, but officials said a ground invasion to push the militant group away from the border was possible. Israel moved thousands of soldiers towards the border in preparation for this.

Israeli raids this week led to the killing of more than 720 people in Lebanon, including dozens of women and children, according to statistics from the Ministry of Health.

An air strike on Friday dawn in the Sunni-majority border town of Shebaa hit a house, killing nine members of one family, the official news agency reported. A resident said that the dead were Hussein Zahra, his wife Ratiba, their five children and two grandchildren.

At the United Nations, Netanyahu pledged to “continue to weaken Hezbollah” until Israel achieves its goals. His comments dampened hopes for a US-backed call for a 21-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah to allow time for a diplomatic solution. Hezbollah did not respond to the proposal.

Iran-backed Hezbollah, the most powerful armed force in Lebanon, began firing rockets at Israel immediately after the Hamas attack on October 7, saying it was a show of support for the Palestinians. Since then, it has exchanged fire with the Israeli army almost daily, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes on both sides of the border.

An Israeli security official said he expects that the potential war against Hezbollah will not last as long as the current war in Gaza, because the Israeli army’s goals are much narrower.

In GazaThe official who spoke to Israel said that Israel aims to dismantle the military and political regime of Hamas, but the goal in Lebanon is to push Hezbollah away from the border with Israel — which is “not as high as Gaza” in terms of operational goals. The condition of anonymity is due to military briefing guidelines.

The Israeli army said it carried out dozens of raids across the south on Friday, targeting Hezbollah missile launchers and infrastructure. She said that Hezbollah fired a barrage of missiles towards the city of Tiberias in northern Israel.

In the city of Tyre, in southern Lebanon, civil defense workers recovered the bodies of two women – 35-year-old Heba Ataya and her mother, Sabah Alian – from under the rubble of a building destroyed by a strike.

A man shouted as her body came out: “This is Sabah, these are her clothes, my love.”

Israel says that its accelerated strikes this week have already caused serious damage to the armed capabilities of Hezbollah and its fighters. But the organization boasts of possessing a large arsenal of rockets and missiles, and its remaining capabilities are still unknown.

Hezbollah officials and their supporters remain defiant. Shortly before the explosions on Friday evening, thousands gathered in another part of the Beirut suburbs to attend the funeral of three Hezbollah members killed in earlier raids, including the head of the group’s drone unit, Mohamed Sorour.

The men and women in the giant crowd waved their fists in the air and chanted “We will never accept humiliation” as they walked behind the three coffins draped in the group’s yellow flag.

Hussein Fadlallah, the top Hezbollah official in Beirut, said in a speech that no matter how many leaders Israel kills, the group has countless numbers of experienced fighters spread throughout the front lines. Fadlallah pledged that Hezbollah would continue fighting until Israel stopped its attack on Gaza.

Fadlallah said, “We will not give up supporting Palestine, Jerusalem, and oppressed Gaza.” “There is no place for neutrality in this battle.”

She contributed to this report.