The short version
- Israel bombs residential areas in southern Beirut.
- Hezbollah denies that there are weapons stored in the buildings that Israel claims it struck.
- Many residents spend their nights outside due to the ongoing attacks.
This comes just hours after the large-scale attack that took place in Beirut on Friday afternoon, in which several residential buildings were demolished.
At 23:00 on Friday evening, the Israeli army announced that it would continue its attacks against Hezbollah targets in southern Beirut during the next few hours.
- Israel again attacked residential areas in southern Beirut. People were forced to flee their homes and many spent the night outdoors.
- Israel says it is attacking Hezbollah targets and that weapons are stored in the buildings. Hezbollah denies this.
- Among other things, The New York Times wrote that Hezbollah's Supreme Leader Hassan Nasrallah was the real target of the attack.
- In the mountainous town of Bhamdoun and areas in the Bekaa Valley as well, attacks were said to have been carried out last night.
– Attack non-stop
The news agency reported, early Saturday morning Agence France-Presse Hospitals in southern Beirut will be evacuated. In a statement published by Agence France-Presse, the authorities asked hospitals to accept only those who need immediate assistance.
– He is attacked nonstop DahiAt the airport and in the vicinity of southern Beirut. Most people are now sleeping in their cars or on the street, Raif Zaghloul told VG channel at 02:00.
He fled his home in southern Lebanon when the Israeli escalation began on Monday, and is now in Beirut.
Zaghloul was only about 300 meters away when Israel bombed the Lebanese capital on Friday afternoon.
Lebanon and Hezbollah
Lebanon is a country with many separate religious groups, with Shia Muslims being the most populous, followed by Sunni Muslims and various Christian groups.
Hezbollah is a Shiite Islamist group, and among the country's Shiite Muslims, support for Hezbollah is strongest. The group has the support of Iran, where Shiite Muslims also form a clear majority and are in power.
Israel directs its attacks against areas in southern Lebanon and neighborhoods in Beirut where many Shiite Muslims live.
A number of countries consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization, including the United States. The European Union has only placed the armed wing on its terrorist list, according to SNL.
Israel again sent evacuation notices to residents in several neighborhoods south of the city on Saturday night.
People who fled their homes spend the night in parks, on sidewalks and on beaches in the capital, he writes New York Times.
The Israeli army says the attacks target Hezbollah targets. In X they claim that Air Force fighter planes attacked the buildings where the weapons were stored during the night.
– They also attacked the launch pads from which fire was fired into Israel, and the military buildings where terrorists from the Hezbollah terror organization were operating, they wrote in X on Saturday morning.
Reuters: Hezbollah denies that it stores weapons under the buildings under attack
Several media outlets, including The New York Times, wrote that Hezbollah's Supreme Leader Hassan Nasrallah was the real target of the attack.
Iran's Tasnim news agency reported that Nasrallah was alive, while an Iranian official told Reuters that they were working to verify his condition.
The European Union summit criticizes Netanyahu
European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell told AFP on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears determined to crush militants in Gaza and Lebanon.
– If they mean by destruction the same thing they meant in Gaza, then it is clear that we are facing a very long war, he says.
We are exerting all our diplomatic pressure to reach a ceasefire, but it seems that no one is able to stop Netanyahu, neither in Gaza nor in the West Bank.
Experts have long warned that the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah could escalate into a major war.
During the same period in which the war broke out in Gaza, the organization launched attacks on several targets in northern Israel. About 70 thousand Israelis They evacuated their homes, according to the Taub Research Center.
Since Monday, Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed more than 700 people and injured more than 2,000 others, according to health authorities in Lebanon.
– This calls for a large-scale war
Hilde Henriksen Waag, Middle East researcher at PRIO, told VG earlier Friday that the new Israeli attacks show they are not listening to the US and France's call for a 21-day ceasefire.
Lebanon is not just Hezbollah, so it is demanding a large-scale war.
– What we are waiting for is whether Israel will dare to intervene with ground forces. This is a completely different matter from entering the Gaza Strip with ground forces, because Hezbollah is a completely different enemy from small Hamas.
Read also: Ground invasion in Lebanon: could be a deadly trap for Israel
Lebanese health authorities said that six people were killed on Friday and 91 others were injured after the massive Israeli attack in Beirut.
Read also: Dramatic pictures from Beirut: - I cannot describe how bad the situation is
According to Israel, the attack targeted Hezbollah's central headquarters in southern Lebanon.
Watch the video of Friday's attack here:
The Israeli army: killed a number of senior Hezbollah leaders
On Saturday night, the Israeli military claimed to have killed several Hezbollah leaders in second attacks in southern Lebanon this week.
on cable They write that Israeli fighter planes killed Muhammad Ali Ismail, the head of the missile unit, and his assistant, Hussein Ahmed Ismail.
According to the New York Times, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called a crisis meeting over the situation.
Hezbollah has roots in Iran and enjoys the support of the Iranian regime. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is described as a close ally of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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