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As the country's tensions with Hezbollah escalate, Israel has said it carried out a "targeted strike" in Beirut, the first striking the Lebanese capital since July, The Washington Post reported.
Though the precise target remained unknown, the Israel Defence Forces announced on Friday that they had struck the capital of Lebanon. Photos from a suburb of Beirut in the south, where Hezbollah is widely supported, according to The Washington Post, showed massive damage to cars and buildings as well as rubble in the streets. According to Lebanon's Ministry of Health, 59 people were injured and eight people were killed in the strike. The Israeli military had earlier claimed to have carried out airstrikes against what it claimed to be southern Lebanon's Hezbollah facilities. About 140 rockets were launched by Hezbollah into northern Israel on Friday, with the militant group claiming that the targets were Israeli military installations. The exchange took place, following some of the most severe Israeli cross-border bombardments since the Gaza War intensified regional conflicts, reported The Washington Post. It is pertinent to note that the situation has grown tense since Hasan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, on Thursday vowed retaliation against Israel for detonations of electronic devices that killed at least 37 people this week and left thousands injured. Quite recently, the walkie-talkies and pager explosions in Lebanon resulted in devastating consequences. In the latest attacks on Wednesday, at least 20 people lost their lives and over 450 were injured in Lebanon , authorities said, according to a report by Al Jazeera. The latest attack came just a day after 12 people were killed and more than 2800 others were wounded in a coordinated explosion of pagers in Lebanon. Meanwhile, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Thursday announced that it had launched targeted strikes against Hezbollah terrorist capabilities and infrastructure in Lebanon, aiming to bring security to northern Israel to enable the return of residents to their homes and achieve war goals. In a post on X, the IDF stated, "The IDF is currently striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon to degrade Hezbollah's terrorist capabilities and infrastructure. For decades, Hezbollah has weaponized civilian homes, dug tunnels beneath them and used civilians as human shields--having turned southern Lebanon into a war zone. The IDF is operating to bring security to northern Israel in order to enable the return of residents to their homes and achieve war goals." Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has declared the start of a "new phase" in the war and asserted that the focus is now on the northern arena. Sharing a post on X, Gallant said, "We are at the start of a new phase in the war - we are allocating resources and forces to the northern arena and our mission is clear: ensuring the safe return of Israel's northern communities to their homes. To do so, the security situation must be changed." (ANI)
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