
On Friday evening, the southern suburbs of Beirut were hit by new Israeli strikes. The Hezbollah headquarters was targeted. According to a source close to the organization, six buildings were completely destroyed.
The Israeli army announced on Friday that it had carried out a strike on the "headquarters" of the Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
The army "carried out a precise strike on the headquarters of the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Dahiyeh" (Arabic for "suburb"), army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was targeted, according to Israeli television. He was unharmed, a source close to the powerful pro-Iranian armed group.
“Sayed Nasrallah is fine,” said the source, who declined to be identified.
Lebanon’s official news agency had already reported loud explosions heard in Beirut on Friday, indicating that a series of Israeli strikes had targeted the southern suburbs of the capital, a stronghold of Hezbollah.
Six buildings were completely destroyed, according to a source close to Hezbollah.
The explosions caused huge craters in several places, according to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV channel. These were the heaviest strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs since the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
UN concerned
The United Nations expressed its "deep concern" on Friday after Israeli strikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
"The UN observes this with deep concern," the spokesman for the UN secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters.
In Lebanon, Israel will continue until 'all' objectives are achieved, Netanyahu assures
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu indicated Friday at the UN podium that operations against Lebanese Hezbollah would continue, dashing hopes of a temporary 21-day truce proposed earlier this week by France and the United States.
"As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no other choice, and Israel has the right to end this threat and return its citizens to safety," he said, adding that operations would continue "until all our objectives are achieved."
Number of children killed and injured in Lebanon reaches “frightening rate,” says UNICEF
The number of children in Lebanon killed or injured since the start of massive Israeli bombings this week has reached “a frightening rate,” UNICEF warned on Friday, calling for “an immediate de-escalation.”
According to Lebanese authorities, 50 children were killed in the space of two days, Monday and Tuesday, and more could still be buried under the rubble of buildings hit by Israeli strikes, UNICEF said in a statement.
“The attacks on Lebanon are killing and injuring children at a frightening rate and destroying any sense of security for hundreds of thousands of children throughout the country,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF representative in Lebanon. “The suffering of children must stop,” he added, calling for “an immediate de-escalation.”
Israel launched a bombing campaign on Monday to weaken Hezbollah in the south and east of the country, which has left more than 700 dead, including many civilians, according to Lebanese authorities.
The bombings have also caused “immense damage to civilian infrastructure,” including water pumping stations, leaving 30,000 people without access to drinking water, according to UNICEF.
Lebanon has moved “from a crisis situation to a disaster situation,” according to the UN agency.
At the National Assembly, diplomats leave the assembly upon the arrival of Binyamin Netanyahu.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was boycotted Friday by some of the diplomats who left the UN General Assembly in New York. Diplomats left the room upon his arrival.
In his speech at the UN podium, he warned Iran. "If you hit us, we will hit you. There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach," he hammered home in New York.
"Hamas must leave," Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Friday, calling on the Palestinian Islamist group "to lay down its arms" in the Gaza Strip to "end the war." "This war can end. All Hamas has to do is surrender, lay down its arms and release the hostages," he said. "If they (Hamas fighters) don't do it, if they don't do it, we will fight until we achieve victory, total victory. There is no alternative," he warned.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim missile, drone attack in Israel.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a missile and drone attack in central Israel on Friday, where the army said it intercepted a missile fired overnight Thursday into Friday.
The Iran-backed Houthis targeted a military target “in the occupied Yafa (Tel Aviv) area with a ballistic missile and a vital target in the occupied Ashkelon region with a drone,” their military spokesman Yahya Saree said, adding that these operations would continue “in the coming days.”
An Israeli security official said Friday that a possible ground operation against the Islamist Hezbollah movement in Lebanon would be “as short” as possible.
“We will try to make it as short as possible,” if necessary, the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I think we are preparing for it every day, and we certainly have that capability,” he added.
More than 30,000 people have fled Lebanon to Syria
More than 30,000 people have fled Lebanon to Syria since the escalation of Israeli attacks on the country, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees announced on Friday. About 80% of these people are Syrian citizens.
According to the United Nations, more than 90,000 Lebanese have fled their country since the resurgence of tensions between the Jewish state and Lebanon.
Lebanon is experiencing its deadliest period in a generation, the UN says
Lebanon is experiencing its “deadliest period in a generation,” the UN said Friday, as the health sector there is “completely overwhelmed.”
“And many fear that this is just the beginning,” the UN humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon, Imran Riza, said, adding that “the recent escalations... are nothing short of catastrophic.”