Israel attacks Beirut, 4 soldiers killed in Lebanon; Biden analyzes attacks on Iran

BeirutTensions in the Middle East over an all-out war remained high on Thursday when Israel carried out a rare attack in central Beirut that killed nine people, marking the first time it has struck the heart of the Lebanese capital. The Israeli military claimed to have killed at least 15 Hezbollah members as it continues its offensive in Lebanon against the Iran-backed militant group.

Israel said it carried out a precise airstrike on Beirut and a security source said it targeted a building in the central Bachoura district, near parliament. Three missiles also hit the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, where Nasrallah was killed. On Tuesday, several explosions were heard and large columns of smoke rose after intense Israeli attacks in the country.

Israel, which has been fighting Hamas in the Palestinian territory of Gaza for almost a year, sent troops to southern Lebanon on Tuesday after two weeks of intense airstrikes in a worsening conflict that has drawn in Iran and is at risk. to absorb the United States. Israel says the goal of its operations in Lebanon is to allow tens of thousands of its citizens displaced from northern Israel by Hezbollah bombings during the Gaza war to return home safely.

What is happening? Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah bomb

Hezbollah also carried out new attacks, targeting what it called Israel’s “Sakhnin base” for military industries in Haifa Bay, on Israel’s northern Mediterranean coast, with a salvo of rockets. The group said it detonated a bomb against Israeli forces infiltrating a southern Lebanon village, killing four soldiers, including paramedic Agam Naim, according to Haaretz.

Israel said it attacked a municipal building in the southern Lebanese city of Bint Jbeil, killing 15 Hezbollah members and destroying many weapons. A civil defense group linked to Hezbollah said seven of its staff, including two doctors, were killed in the Israeli attack in Beirut. An Israeli airstrike in a southern suburb of Beirut hit the building housing the media office of the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

The World Health Organization said 28 health workers had been killed in Lebanon in the previous 24 hours. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said flight restrictions meant the agency would not be able to deliver a large planned shipment of medical and trauma supplies to Lebanon on Friday.

Biden analyzes possible Israeli attacks on Iran’s oil facilities

As it advances toward Lebanon, Israel is also weighing its options for retaliation against its archenemy Iran with the backing of the United States. US President Joe Biden said he is discussing with Israel the possibility of Israeli attacks on Iran’s oil infrastructure.

Asked whether he would support such attacks, Biden told reporters at the White House: “We’re discussing that. I think it would be a little… anyway.” He had previously said he would not support Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. The price of crude oil soared 5 percent immediately after Biden’s remarks and has now risen 10 percent since Iran’s large-scale missile attack on Israel on Tuesday, according to the BBC.

Israel had vowed to retaliate against Iran for Tuesday’s missile attack when Tehran launched a barrage of 180 missiles in retaliation for Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, speaking in Doha, said Tehran would be ready to respond and warned against “silence” in the face of Israel’s “warmongering.”

Israeli army issues new evacuation orders

Amid the chaos, Israel’s military told residents of more than 20 cities in southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes immediately on Thursday as it continued its cross-border incursion. The latest warnings raised the number of southern cities subject to evacuation calls to 70 and included the provincial capital Nabatieh, suggesting a widening campaign against Hezbollah.

More than 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced by Israeli attacks and nearly 2,000 people have been killed since the start of Israeli attacks on Lebanon over the past year, most of them in the last two weeks, Lebanese authorities said. . Hezbollah says it has repelled several ground operations by Israeli troops, including with ambushes and direct clashes.

Lebanese army counterattacks Israeli troops

Additionally, Lebanese security sources say that Israeli troops have entered Lebanese territory and been repulsed several times in recent days, without establishing a permanent presence. The Lebanese army said two soldiers were killed Thursday by Israeli strikes in separate incidents in southern Lebanon.

For the first time since the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel began, the Lebanese army said it returned fire when Israeli forces attacked a military outpost, unusual for a force that has historically stayed out of major conflicts with Israel.

Foreigners flee Lebanon as conflict escalates

A growing number of countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East evacuated citizens from Beirut on Thursday as Israeli bombing of the Lebanese capital intensified and governments around the world urged their citizens to leave. Dozens of Greeks and Greek Cypriots boarded a Greek military plane at Beirut airport, many of them children with stuffed animals and school bags in their hands.

Some countries provided air evacuations, while in other places hundreds of people boarded overcrowded ferries or smaller boats as bombs fell on the heart of the city. Expats have been struggling to leave and governments from China to Europe have drawn up plans to remove their citizens.

(with contributions from agencies)

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