Beirut: Israel targeted a senior Hezbollah leader in a strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday afternoon but his fate was not immediately known, a security source told news agency Reuters. The strike hit near a part of the southern suburbs where several of the Lebanese armed group's facilities are located. The head of one of Hezbollah's air force units, Mohammad Surur, was killed in the airstrike.
The strike came two days after a similar attack killed a senior Hezbollah commander with the group's missile unit.
Over the past week, Israel has carried out several strikes in Beirut targeting senior Hezbollah commanders. Earlier in the day, a strike in eastern Lebanon killed 20 people, most of them Syrian migrants, according to Lebanese health officials. Also Thursday, the health ministry said two people were killed and 15 were wounded after an Israeli airstrike hit an apartment building in a southern suburb of Beirut. The Israel Defense Force said the strike killed a Hezbollah drone commander, Mohammed Hussein Surour.
Lebanon's disaster risk management unit said Thursday in a report that 60 people were killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon and 81 injured over 24 hours, bringing the total killed since Monday in Lebanon to 696. More than 1,540 people have been killed in Lebanon in the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel since last October, the report said.
Israel hit 75 sites early Thursday across southern and eastern Lebanon, the military said.
After the Beirut explosion, dozens of rockets were fired toward the northern Israeli city of Safed, with one hitting a street in a nearby town. In total, 175 projectiles were fired from Lebanon on Thursday, the military said. Most were intercepted or fell in open areas, some sparking wildfires.
The strikes came after Israel's military chief said Wednesday that the country was preparing for a possible ground operation in Lebanon as Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets into Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel is striking Hezbollah “with full force” and won’t stop until its goals are achieved.
Late Wednesday, the United States, France and other allies jointly called for an “immediate” 21-day cease-fire to allow for negotiations as fears grow that the violent escalation in recent days — following 11 months of cross-border exchange of fire — could grow into an all-out war.
