Israel-Iran latest: Blast near Beirut airport as Hezbollah leadership targeted and 18 dead in West Bank strike
Israeli strike lands just outside perimeter of Beirut airport as Lebanon offensive continues
Your support helps us to tell the story
My recent work focusing on Latino voters in Arizona has shown me how crucial independent journalism is in giving voice to underrepresented communities.
Your support is what allows us to tell these stories, bringing attention to the issues that are often overlooked. Without your contributions, these voices might not be heard.
Every dollar you give helps us continue to shine a light on these critical issues in the run up to the election and beyond
Eric Garcia
Washington Bureau Chief
Beirut has been rocked by huge explosions with a Lebanese government source claiming at least one Israeli strike had come close to the city’s airport.
Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, who is widely regarded as the successor to slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, was a target of the strikes, US news site Axios reported.
Civilians were fleeing the series of massive blasts in Beirut’s southern suburbs last night, with state media reporting there were more than 10 consecutive airstrikes.
Witnesses said they saw smoke near Beirut’s international airport while a source in Lebanon’s transport ministry said an Israeli strike had come down outside the perimeter this morning.
Earlier at least nine people were killed and 14 wounded in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut, targeting a building near the parliament.
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 18 people, including children, in the occupied West Bank in one of the deadliest attacks in two decades, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The Israeli military said that it had conducted a strike on Tulkarm which killed the head of the Hamas network in the city.
Watch: Girl, 9, calls for end to violence from hospital bed in Lebanon
Girl, 9, calls for end to violence from hospital bed in Lebanon
A nine-year-old girl whose leg was shattered after an Israeli missile struck her family home in Lebanon has pleaded for an end to the bombardment. Mariam Kashami spoke from her hospital bed, where she lay with bandages on her leg and arm. She told ITV News she stepped outside to eat a sandwich when "there was a huge strike and the whole house fell down," she told ITV News of the strike. "I want this war to stop. Maybe then everyone will go back to their home," she added. The strikes came as Israel responded to Iran's huge missile attack.
Biden says US ‘discussing’ Israeli oil field strikes
US President Joe Biden has said “we are discussing that” when asked whether he would support Israel striking Iran’s oil facilities.
Reporters put the question to Biden as he left the White House on Thursday, with the US president appearing to hesitate at the end of his answer.
The BBC reports Biden’s words caused the price of crude oil to surge 5 per cent to $77 a barrel.
Dozens of health workers killed in Lebanon over past day, WHO says
At least 28 on-duty medics have been killed in the past 24 hours in Lebanon, where Israel has launched airstrikes and sent troops to fight Hezbollah in an escalating conflict, the World Health Organization chief said on Thursday.
"Many (other) health workers are not reporting to duty and fled the areas where they work due to bombardments," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an online press briefing, calling for stronger protections for health workers.
"This is severely limiting the provision of mass trauma management and continuity of health services," he said.
The global health agency will not be able to deliver a large planned shipment of trauma and medical supplies to the country on Friday due to flight restrictions, he added.
WHO's representative in Lebanon Dr Abdinasir Abubakar told the briefing that all of the healthcare workers killed in the past day had been on duty, helping with the wounded.
A total of nearly 2,000 people have been killed, including 127 children, and 9,384 injured since the start of Israeli attacks on Lebanon over the last year, the country's health ministry said.
"Hospitals have been already evacuated. I think what I can say for now is the capacity for mass casualty management exists, but it's just a matter of time until the system actually reaches its limit," said the WHO's Abubakar.
Israel fires at Lebanese army post and Lebanese forces ‘fire back for first time’
Israel has fired at a Lebanese army post in southern Lebanon, with Lebanese forces reportedly firing back for the first time.
The Israeli fire in the town of Bint Jbeil on Thursday killed a Lebanese soldier, raising to two the number of members of the Lebanese military killed.
The Telegraph reported a military official told AFP this was the Lebanese army’s first response to Israeli fire since last October and came about because the post was “directly” hit.
The Lebanese army said in a statement that troops "open fire at the source of" the attack. It did not elaborate.
A Lebanese security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of regulations, said that the army post was hit by artillery fire.
Rockets, missiles and the Iron Dome: who calls the shots in the Middle East?
Escalating retaliatory strikes signify the severity of the situation between Israel and Iran. Tuesday’s strike was more aggressive than the April response by Iran to the Israeli strike on their consulate in Damascus, which killed Mohammed Zahedi, the IRGC commander of the Quds Force.
April’s attack consisted of 300 drones, which were largely neutralised by Israel’s Iron Dome, the joint US-Israeli aerial protection system that shoots down rockets. Tuesday night’s attack consisted of approximately 180 ballistic missiles delivering a more devastating payload, albeit countered in part by the Iron Dome.
Even Iran could not have anticipated the vehemence with which Israel would respond to the 7 October attacks. Israel’s latest switch to focus on the systematic dismantling of Hezbollah’s senior leadership in a single week has left Iran’s quest for regional hegemonic control in tatters. But whilst Hezbollah’s leadership is wounded, the force should not be underestimated.
Read the full analysis from Mike Crofts here:
Rockets, missiles and the Iron Dome: who calls the shots in the Middle East?
With the conflict having reached a new and extremely dangerous phase, former British army officer Mike Crofts weighs up the effectiveness of each side’s weaponry – and how they might use it next
Hezbollah says it targeted Israeli military industries base in Haifa Bay
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said on Thursday it targeted Israel‘s “Sakhnin base” for military industries in Haifa Bay with a salvo of rockets.
Israeli military says it has struck 200 Hezbollah targets
The Israeli military has said that it had struck around 200 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and observation posts, killing at least 15 Hezbollah fighters.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said its fighters detonated a roadside bomb when Israeli forces entered the Lebanese border village of Maroun el-Ras, kiling and wounding soldiers. It was not possible to independently confirm the claims made by either side. So far, ground clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have been confined to a narrow strip along the border. But hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, as Israel has warned people to evacuate from dozens of villages and towns in the south.
Black smoke rises from Lebanon's Beirut skyline
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments