TYYRE, Lebanon (AP) – Israeli warplanes on Wednesday struck several buildings in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tire, raising large plumes of black smoke, but Hezbollah is widely expected to be the extremist group’s next leader. It was confirmed that a senior official was killed. Israeli attack.
Lebanon’s state news agency reported that three people were killed in an Israeli attack on the nearby town of Marakeh. There were no reports of casualties in Tire, where Israeli forces had issued an evacuation warning before the airstrike.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah fired more rockets into Israel, two of which were intercepted after setting off an air raid siren in Tel Aviv. Clouds of smoke could be seen in the sky from the hotel where US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was staying during a recent visit to the region as he seeks to restart ceasefire talks.
On Wednesday night, the Israeli military announced that four more “projectiles” had entered Israel from Lebanon, with two intercepted and one falling in an open field. There were no immediate reports of injuries, the military said.
Hezbollah confirmed that its top official, Hashem Saffieddin, had been killed in a statement a day after Israel said it had killed him in an attack in Beirut’s southern suburbs earlier this month.
Saffieddin was a powerful cleric within the party and was expected to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, one of the group’s founders, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last month.
Hezbollah said Saffieddin “joined his brother Nasrallah, the most noble and honorable martyr.”
After Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023 sparked a war in Gaza, the extremist group began firing rockets, missiles, and drones into Israel and carried out retaliatory airstrikes. All-out war broke out in Lebanon last month, with Israeli airstrikes killing Prime Minister Nasrallah and most of his senior commanders. Israeli ground forces invaded southern Lebanon in early October.
The state capital, Tire, was largely spared, but strikes in and around the city have recently intensified.
The 2,500-year-old city, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Beirut, is known for its pristine beaches, ancient port, impressive Roman ruins and UNESCO-listed racetrack . It is one of Lebanon’s largest cities and a vibrant metropolis that is popular with tourists.
The building attacked on Wednesday was among several heritage sites, including a racetrack and a seaside ruins associated with ancient Phoenicians and the Crusaders.
Hours before the attack, the Israeli military issued an evacuation order for dozens of buildings in the city center. Residents were told to move tens of kilometers (miles) north of the Awari River.
Israeli military spokesman Avichai Adlai said on Platform X that Hezbollah had a stronghold in the area, but did not elaborate or provide evidence.
The Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah has a strong presence in the city, and its members are members of the group or its allies. However, Tire is also home to civilian populations unaffiliated with the group, including a large Christian community.
Civil Defense first responders warned residents over loudspeakers to evacuate and helped the elderly and those who were unable to evacuate. Civil Defense Chief Ali Saffieddin told The Associated Press there were no casualties.
Tire health official Dr Wissam Ghazal said six buildings were hit by airstrikes about two and a half hours after the evacuation order was issued, four of which were completely destroyed. People forced to evacuate due to the strike could be seen sitting in parks or on nearby roadsides.
Mortada Manna, head of Tire’s disaster management department, told The Associated Press that many have been evacuated, but thousands of residents and people evacuated from other areas remain. Many people, including hundreds of families, had previously been evacuated from villages in south Lebanon and taken to evacuation centers in Tire.
Of the prewar population of about 100,000, an estimated 15,000 remain in the city, Manna said.
Pan-Arab television station Al-Mayadeen, which is politically allied with Hezbollah, reported on Wednesday night that Israeli forces had attacked an office building in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
“Al-Mayadeen holds Israeli occupation forces responsible for attacks on known media offices of known news organizations,” the TV station said. It added that the office had been evacuated. The Israeli military did not issue any warning before the attack.
On November 21, an Israeli military attack in southern Lebanon killed two Al-Mayadeen journalists reporting on military activities along the border with Israel.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 28 people were killed and 139 injured in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 2,574 and 12,001 injured since the conflict began last year. The fighting has forced 1.2 million people, including more than 400,000 children, from their homes, according to the United Nations children’s agency.
Saad al-Ahmar, commander of the Southern District of Civil Defense, said rescuers recovered the bodies of a mother and a 7-year-old child on Wednesday, two days after an Israeli airstrike on Monday hit a densely populated shantytown near Beirut’s main public hospital. was accommodated. Fire and Rescue Services told The Associated Press.
Monday’s strikes left at least 18 people dead, including four children, and more than 60 injured, according to the Ministry of Health. Also damaged was nearby Rafik Hariri University Hospital, Beirut’s main public health facility.
The Israeli military said it targeted a Hezbollah stronghold, but gave no details and said the hospital itself was not the intended target.
On the Israeli side, Hezbollah attacks killed around 60 people, half of them soldiers. Near-daily barrages of rocket fire have emptied communities across northern Israel, forcing some 60,000 people to flee. In recent weeks, Hezbollah has expanded its reach, firing dozens of rockets daily and regularly targeting the northern Israeli city of Haifa. Most are disturbed or fall into open areas.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces are carrying out large-scale operations in the north, and the United Nations Humanitarian Office has announced that Israel is severely restricting the delivery of aid. During his trip to the region, Mr. Blinken reiterated his warning that blocking aid could force the United States to reduce critical military aid to Israel.
The Israeli military said it had arrested about 150 suspected Palestinian extremists, while about 20,000 people left Jabaliya, a refugee camp that had become a crowded residential area over the decades. The military released drone footage showing thousands of people walking in front of bombed buildings. In the past few days, several Palestinians said Israeli forces had forced them to leave.
The United Nations estimates that 60,000 people have fled Gaza’s far north to the south over more than two weeks.
Palestinians living in Beit Rahiya, near Jabaliya, told The Associated Press that Israeli forces had rounded up hundreds of men in northern Gaza and separated them as families tried to flee the area.
Hisham Abu Zakut, a father of four, said he was detained for at least three hours along with dozens of other men at a school near the hospital.
The Israeli military said it was trying to remove Hamas militants from Jabaliya and other areas in northern Gaza earlier this month and ordered a mass evacuation of the area. Jabaliya has been partially destroyed by months of intermittent fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas militants.
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Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Salih Abu Aljood in Beirut and Jack Jeffrey in Ramallah, West Bank contributed to this report.
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