Israeli raid on Beirut’s suburb claims at least 37 lives
An Israeli strike on a Beirut’s suburb on Friday claimed the lives of at least 37 people, including three children, as the conflict between the regime and Hezbollah resistance movement has escalated into an all-out war.
Hezbollah, which has been exchanging fire with Israel in support of Palestinians in Gaza for months, on Saturday announced that two commanders of its elite operations unit had been killed by the Israeli strike on Beirut.
Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abiad said three children were also killed in Friday’s strike on an underground meeting room, which left a huge crater in a densely populated neighborhood of Dahieh, a Hezbollah stronghold.
Hezbollah announced that 15 of its operatives — including two top commanders Ahmed Mahmoud Wahbi and Ibrahim Aqil — were killed in the Israeli attack.
Abiad, Lebanon’s health minister, said emergency services worked “through the night” to recover victims from the Beirut strike, adding that, “A residential building collapsed on top of occupants” after the Israeli attack.
Attacks on communication
devices
Friday’s strike also followed sabotage attacks on pagers and two-way radios used by Hezbollah on Tuesday and Wednesday, which killed 39 people and wounded thousands of others including Iran’s Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani. Hezbollah blamed Israel, which has so far declined to comment.
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed Thursday that Israel would face retribution for those blasts.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said the world body was “very concerned about the heightened escalation,” and called for “maximum restraint” from all sides.
On Friday, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, told the Security Council the attack on Hezbollah communications devices violated international law and could constitute a war crime.
The pagers and walkie-talkies exploded as their users were in supermarkets, walking on streets and attending funerals, plunging Lebanon into panic.
War crimes
“I am appalled by the breadth and impact of the attacks,” said Turk, adding that it “is a war crime to commit violence intended to spread terror among civilians.”
Months of near-daily cross-border exchanges have killed hundreds in Lebanon, mostly fighters, and dozens in Israel and the occupied Golan Heights, forcing tens of thousands on both sides to flee their homes.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Israel will not achieve its objective of inflaming the region to extricate itself from the Gaza quagmire, stressing, however, that the regime will get a response to its atrocities.
He made the remarks on Friday night upon arrival in New York, where he is expected to attend the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Speaking to reporters, Araghchi said that Israel’s recent terrorist crimes in Lebanon shows that the regime is desperately scrambling to drag the entire region into the dangerous deadlock that it has got itself caught in.
Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani also told the Security Council meeting in New York that Iran will rigorously pursue accountability for the attack on Iran’s ambassador.
Iran reserves its right under international law to take all necessary measures to respond to “this egregious violation,” Iravani said.