Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was reportedly the target of the latest IDF raid on the Lebanese capital
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 © AP / Hassan Ammar
The Israel Defense Forces have conducted a new wave of strikes in Lebanon, allegedly targeting the infrastructure of the Hezbollah movement, including the organization’s central headquarters in a residential area of Beirut.
According to some media reports, the main target of the attack in Beirut was the top leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah.
West Jerusalem confirmed bombing an underground compound belonging to the militant group in the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut but did not confirm or deny that Nasrallah was the primary target.
Sources cited by Iran’s Tasnim news agency and Reuters reported that Nasrallah was safe, but Israeli media maintain that the Hezbollah leader was likely killed in the strike.
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28 September 2024
03:50 GMT
Israel notified Washington about an imminent major airstrike targeting Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah only after the operation was underway and Israeli jets were already in the air, an anonymous US official told The Times of Israel. Another Israeli official claimed the US was warned just “several minutes” before the bombs struck Beirut.
- 03:12 GMT
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has voiced regret that nobody can “stop” Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that he has made clear that the Israelis won’t “stop until Hezbollah is destroyed.”
“If the interpretation of being destroyed is the same as with Hamas, then we are going to go for a long war,” Borrell says in English.
“What we do is to put all diplomatic pressure to a ceasefire, but nobody seems to be able to stop Netanyahu, neither in Gaza nor in the West Bank,” he added.
- 02:36 GMT
The residents of the Dahiyeh neighborhood and other densely populated areas of Beirut are struggling to find refuge from Israeli strikes, with many reportedly gathering at the public beach of Ramlet al-Baida and in the capital’s Martyrs’ Square, according to Al Jazeera.
- 02:01 GMT
Israel is once again attacking “Hezbollah terror targets in Beirut,” the IDF has announced.
Flames rise after an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, September 28, 2024 © AP / Hussein Malla
- 01:49 GMT
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have addressed Israel’s ongoing srikes in Beirut at a Shabbat event shortly before his departure from New York.
”Our enemies thought we were like a spider web. That’s what one of them used to say,” Netanyahu said, apparently referring to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who has repeatedly called Israel a spider web.
”What spider web are they talking about? We have tendons of steel — both of will and power,” he added. “The people of Israel live, and when they need to, they also kick. Today we kicked properly, but not just today. And we will continue to do so.”
- 01:36 GMT
The IDF continues to attack Hezbollah targets in Beirut, with local media and witnesses sharing videos of explosions illuminating the night sky.
- 01:33 GMT
Hezbollah has accused the Israeli military of indiscriminately bombing civilian homes, denying IDF claims about underground weapons storage.
“The enemy’s false claims regarding the existence of weapons or arsenals in civilian structures that were bombed some time ago in the suburbs of Beirut are untrue,” the movement stated.
Smoke and fire rises following an Israeli airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs, September 28, 2024 © AP / Hassan Ammar
- 01:29 GMT
The IDF has issued another order for civilians in Beirut to evacuate several areas in the Dahiyeh suburb ahead of imminent strikes, according to Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman.
“You are located near Hezbollah interests and for your safety and the safety of your loved ones, you are obliged to evacuate the buildings immediately and move away from them at a distance of no less than 500 meters,” Adraee said.
The IDF calls on the residents of neighborhoods in the Dahieh of Beirut to move away from Hezbollah assets and facilities.We will continue operating to precisely dismantle Hezbollah’s offensive capabilities. Hezbollah has strategically embedded weapons in civilian areas,… https://t.co/OCM3cx9TjS
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 28, 2024
“We will continue to operate to precisely dismantle Hezbollah’s offensive capabilities. Hezbollah has strategically embedded weapons in civilian areas, putting Lebanese civilians at risk in order to harm Israeli civilians,” the IDF stated in the announcement, claiming that Israel’s “war is with Hezbollah, not the people of Lebanon.”
- 01:16 GMT
The IDF has launched another round of strikes against “additional terrorist targets” in the Bekaa valley some 30 kilometers east of Beirut.
- 00:09 GMT
Israeli jets have launched another round of strikes in the Lebanese capital, targeting residential buildings allegedly used as weapons production and storage facilities, and as key command centers. “Following precise IDF intelligence, the IAF is currently conducting strikes on strategic terror targets belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the area of Beirut,” the IDF has claimed.
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