Around midnight, Israel launched an attack on an underground bunker in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The strike reportedly targeted a meeting attended by potential new Hezbollah leader Hashem Safiedin and other high-ranking officials from the militant Lebanese group, according to The New York Times, citing three unnamed Israeli officials. It remains unclear whether Safiedin was injured in the Israeli strike, which is said to have been one of the most powerful since the onset of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Safiedin, a relative of the slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, has long been a senior official within the organization and is considered a candidate for its new secretary-general, The New York Times reports. Israeli officials previously stated to the American paper that Safiedin was one of the few senior Hezbollah leaders not present at the location targeted by Israel last Friday, when Nasrallah was killed.
Israel is unleashing its most MASSIVE, most VIOLENT bombardment on Beirut yet.
— sarah (@sahouraxo) October 3, 2024
Every night now, Israel terrorizes Lebanon and massacres our people. pic.twitter.com/b6Tvua7v5Q
Last night’s attack signals that Israel has not abandoned its intent to eliminate Hezbollah’s leadership, almost a week after Nasrallah’s death, The New York Times assesses. Strong explosions were reported throughout the night in Beirut, and media outlets reported seeing fighter jets over the Lebanese capital, along with smoke. Lebanon’s Ministry of Transport announced that the area around the airport was struck at least once.
In the past twenty-four hours, at least 37 people have been killed in Lebanon, with 151 others injured, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health, as reported by Tanjug.
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Source: Politika
Photo: EPA-EFE/WAEL HAMZEH