October 4, 2024
BEIRUT (AP) — Israel carried out a series of massive airstrikes overnight, hitting suburbs of Beirut and cutting off the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria.
The blasts in Beirut's southern suburbs sent huge plumes of smoke and flames into the night sky and shook buildings miles away in the Lebanese capital. The Israeli military did not comment on what the intended target was, and there was no information yet available on casualties. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported there were more than 10 consecutive airstrikes in the area.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military said that Hezbollah had launched about 100 rockets into Israel on Friday, as fighting continued between Israel and the militant group.
The Israeli military also said Friday that a strike in Beirut the day before killed Mohammed Rashid Skafi, the head of Hezbollah’s communications division. The military said in a statement that Skafi was “a senior Hezbollah terrorist who was responsible for the communications unit since 2000” and was “closely affiliated” with high-up Hezbollah officials.
Thursday’s strike along the Lebanon-Syria border, about 30 miles east of Beirut, led to the closure of the road near the busy Masnaa Border Crossing.
Israel said it had targeted the crossing because it was being used by Hezbollah to transport military equipment across the border. It said fighter jets had struck a tunnel used to smuggle weapons from Iran and other proxies into Lebanon.
Hezbollah is believed to have received much of its weaponry from Iran via Syria. The group has a presence on both sides of the border, a region where it has been fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
The new wave of strikes came after Israel warned people to evacuate communities in southern Lebanon, including but also beyond an area that the United Nations declared a buffer zone after Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in 2006.
Israel launched a ground incursion into Lebanon on Tuesday and its forces have been clashing with Hezbollah terrorists in a narrow strip along the border. A series of attacks before the incursion killed some of the group's key members, including longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived Friday in Beirut for meetings with Lebanese officials. He warned that if Israeli carries out an attack on Iran, Tehran would retaliate in a harsh way.
Araghchi’s visit to Beirut came three days after Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel, the latest in a series of rapidly escalating attacks that threaten to push the Middle East closer to a regionwide war.
Iran is Hezbollah’s main backer and has sent weapons and billions of dollars to the terrorist group over the years.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across Lebanon's southern border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in which the terrorists killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it carried out a strike Thursday in Tulkarem, a militant stronghold in the occupied West Bank, in coordination with the Shin Bet internal security service.
Violence has flared across the Israeli-occupied territory since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October 2023. Tulkarem and other northern cities have seen some of the worst violence.
Israel declared war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip in response to their Oct. 7 attack. Israel’s military said Friday that militants in Gaza fired two rockets into Israeli territory, the first time Israel has seen rocket fire from Gaza in about a month.
The military said one of the rockets was intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system and the other fell in an open area near a kibbutz across the border from Gaza.
The number of rockets fired from Gaza into Israel has slowed considerably since the start of the war.
