The IDF carried out a “precise strike” on Hezbollah’s central headquarters in Beirut on Friday, according to the Israeli military, in what was an effort to decapitate the group by killing its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The Lebanese Health Ministry reported at least two people were killed and 76 injured.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari condemned the terror group’s placement of military targets under residential complexes “as part of Hezbollah’s strategy of using Lebanese people as human shields.” The sheer impact of the explosion proved so powerful that homes nearly 20 miles away were physically shaken, according to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV.
Lebanon’s state news agency reported that six buildings were destroyed in the assault.
“After almost a year of Israel warning the world and telling them that Hezbollah must be stopped, Israel is doing what every sovereign state in the world would do if they had a terror organization that seeks their destruction on their border, taking the necessary action to protect our people so that Israeli families can leave their homes safely and securely.”
Several local Israeli outlets reported that the strike targeted Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, one of Israel’s fiercest adversaries. His death was later confirmed.
Just before the strike, thousands were gathered in the suburb of Dahiyeh for the funeral of three Hezbollah members.
The attack comes as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday. He promised to “continue degrading Hezbollah” as Israel seeks to push the terror group off its northern border, allowing for the return of some 60,000 internally displaced Israelis forced to flee their homes due to artillery exchanges.
Netanyahu’s office announced that the prime minister will return to Israel a day early from New York in light of the Beirut strike.
Since Monday, over 700 Lebanese have been killed, and north of 118,000 displaced resulting from Israel’s offensive campaign, codenamed Operation Northern Arrows. Up to 30,000 Lebanese civilians have already crossed into war-torn Syria as a result.
Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel on October 8 of last year, just one day following the Hamas massacre that marked the deadliest single day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Israel and Hezbollah last engaged in a full-blown war in 2006. The month of fighting left over 1,000 Lebanese and over 150 Israelis dead. The region continues to brace for impact as the two sides inch closer to a similar confrontation.