TWO ISRAEL AIRSTRIKES targeted south Beirut today after the Israeli army warned civilians to evacuate the are where Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement is based, state media said.
The reported strikes came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement of trying to assassinate him by attacking his residence.
“Enemy airplanes carried out two strikes this morning on Beirut’s southern suburbs, one of them hitting a residential building in Haret Hreik” near a mosque and a hospital, the National News Agency reported.
The Israeli military had earlier issued an “urgent warning” for civilians living near buildings it said were affiliated with Hezbollah in the neighbourhood to immediately evacuate.
“You are located near facilities and interests affiliated with Hezbollah, which the IDF (Israeli army) will work against in the near future,” the military’s Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee said on Telegram.
Israel also struck dozens of south Lebanon villages and towns overnight and targeted Nabatiyeh city for a third time this week, Lebanese state media has said.
“Warplanes struck… the city of Nabatiyeh seven times” including an inhabited building, and rescuers are still looking for survivors under the rubble, the official National News Agency said.
The city where Hezbollah and ally Amal hold sway had seen deadly Israeli strikes on Wednesday that killed its mayor, with bloody attacks last week razing its marketplace.
The news agency added that Israeli jets “conducted strikes” on more than 50 towns and villages including the border villages of Kfarshuba, Bint Jbeil and Khiam that have seen heavy fighting, reporting casualties.
“Israeli troops blew up the Tarrash neighbourhood in Mais al-Jabal,” a border village where Hezbollah has been fighting invading Israeli soldiers, “after booby-trapping it with highly explosive materials,” the NNA said.
The troops “bulldozed the cemetery in the village of Blida” nearby, the NNA added.
Since late September, the war has killed at least 1,454 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.
The Lebanese army said three of its soldiers were killed today in an Israeli strike that “targeted” their vehicle in the country’s south.
The latest deaths bring the number of troop casualties to eight killed since all-out war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah last month.
Netanyahu’s office said yesterday that a drone was launched towards his residence in the central town of Caesarea but he and his wife were not home and there were no injuries.
“The attempt by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to assassinate me and my wife today was a grave mistake,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
“Anyone who tries to harm Israel’s citizens will pay a heavy price,” he said in comments directed at Tehran and “its proxies”, which include Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Iran said Hezbollah, which it arms and finances, was behind the attack on Netanyahu’s residence.
“This action was taken by the Lebanese Hezbollah,” Iran’s mission to the United Nations said in response to a question about its role in the attack, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
Hezbollah has not claimed the attack.
Classified US intelligence documents assessing Israel’s plans to attack Iran have been leaked online.
The leak was first reported by US media outlet Axios and Associated Press has reported US officials are investigating the source of the disclosure.
Israel has promised to retaliate against Iran after it launched a massive barrage of rockets against the country on 1 October. That Iranian attack was itself retaliation for the assassination of Hamas’ political leader Ismael Haniyeh while he was visiting Tehran.
The documents were leaked by The Middle East Spectator Telegram channel on Friday, which said they had come from a source in the US intelligence community.
They detail actions taken in recent days at several Israeli air bases, which include transferring advanced munitions. The documents also contain reports on preparations for an attack by Israel’s drone units.
With reporting from AFP
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