Israeli airstrikes have caused significant explosions in Beirut, including one near the international airport, during a renewed offensive targeting Hezbollah. Smoke billowed over the city on Friday morning as the attacks continued. According to U.S. outlets citing Israeli officials, the strikes were aimed at Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Hezbollah’s former leader Hassan Nasrallah, who is seen as a potential successor after Nasrallah’s death from an Israeli strike last week.
Lebanon’s public health ministry reported that 37 people were killed and 151 injured in the past 24 hours due to both ground and aerial attacks. The Lebanese army confirmed the deaths of two soldiers in southern Lebanon as the Israeli military pressed its invasion against Hezbollah, prompting the evacuation of another 20 towns and villages.
While the Israeli military has not officially commented, it has indicated that its forces killed Hezbollah fighters near the border, and Hezbollah retaliated by targeting Israeli troops on both sides of the frontier. The two soldiers from the Lebanese army were killed in separate incidents on Thursday, one during a rescue operation with the Lebanese Red Cross, and the other when an army post was struck in the Bint Jbeil area.
As the conflict escalated, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued evacuation orders for additional communities in southern Lebanon, including the regional capital of Nabatieh. These areas, now under threat, lie north of the Litani River, approximately 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border.
Matthew Hollingworth, the World Food Programme’s country director in Lebanon, described the situation in Beirut as “horrific,” highlighting the widespread displacement and chaos, with many families forced to sleep outdoors and vehicles abandoned by those fleeing the violence.
Israel’s recent airstrikes follow a pattern of attacks on Hezbollah targets, which have included intelligence headquarters and weapons facilities. In the last two weeks, Israeli actions have resulted in over 1,300 fatalities and displaced more than one million people across Lebanon, according to local authorities. The Israeli government justified its military operations as a response to ongoing rocket attacks from Hezbollah.
The IDF announced that it targeted 200 Hezbollah “terrorist targets” overnight, including observation posts and weapons storage facilities, claiming that around 15 Hezbollah fighters were killed when a municipal building in Bint Jbeil was struck.
Hezbollah stated that its fighters successfully repelled several Israeli attempts to advance into border villages and continued to fire rockets into northern Israel. The IDF reported that more than 230 projectiles were launched from Lebanon into Israeli territory, most of which were intercepted or landed in unpopulated areas, with no reported casualties.
Amid the ongoing conflict, Dean Sweetland, a former British soldier residing in a kibbutz near the Lebanese border, expressed concern about the precarious situation. “We can’t continue this for another year,” he said, referencing the threats posed by Hezbollah. He acknowledged the difficulty of having his son serving in the military amid such tensions, stating, “It’s not going to be pretty, but if that’s what it takes, then that’s what it takes.”