The Beirut Airstrike Revisited: NPR in the Presence of a Critical Attack on Hezbollah

The barrage came after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut killed at least 37 people, including one of Hezbollah’s top leaders as well as women and children. Hezbollah was already reeling from a sophisticated attack that caused thousands of personal devices to explod e Just a few days earlier.

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Nuclear Bombs and Air Raiders in the Haifa Area: An Israeli Example of Hezbollah’s Revival

ARAF: Qassem said after the pager attacks, they were actually in shock. Thousands of pagers exploded at the same time. More than 42 fighters and civilians were killed and 3,500 were injured by the walkie-talkies on the next day. But he said Hezbollah quickly rebounded and that the attacks failed to turn people against the group. He claimed that Hezbollah was planning a bigger revenge than the attacks today into Israel. And he said those Israeli attacks were creating the next generation of fighters.

Israel says Hezbollah has taken over entire communities in the south and turned them into militant bases. That could lead it to wage an especially heavy bombing campaign, even if no ground forces move in.

NAIM QASSEM: (Through interpreter) This is a nation that cannot be defeated. But the United States, America, it is drowned. In the course of the aggression and genocide with Israel, it has been swamped.

ARAF: Yeah, it’s been a dizzying few days here. There have been two days of funerals in the southern suburb where a building was destroyed by an Israeli strike.

On Friday, an Israeli airstrike took down an eight-story building in a densely populated neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs as Hezbollah members were meeting in the basement, according to Israel. Among those killed was Ibrahim Akil, a top Hezbollah official who commanded the group’s special forces unit, known as the Radwan Force.

The missiles were fired from Lebanon into Israel early on Sunday, hitting the northern city of Haifa and raising concern of a full-out war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The rockets streaked over a wider and deeper area of northern Israel than previous volleys and set off air raid sirens across the region. The Israeli military has said that the rockets were fired towards civilian areas, pointing to a possible escalation of the situation.

A 76-year-old man was moderately wounded by a bomb near Haifa and was one of four people who were treated by Magen David Adom. The damage was not immediately clear, but it may have been caused by a rocket.

Hezbollah’s October 7 attack on Hamas: the deadliest air strike since the fall of the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon

Israel has vowed to push Hezbollah back from the border so its citizens can return to their homes, saying it prefers to do so diplomatically but is willing to use force. Hezbollah has said it will keep up its attacks until there is a cease-fire in Gaza, but that appears increasingly elusive as the war nears its anniversary.

The war in Gaza began with Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people and took around 250 hostage. Around 100 captives are being held, three of which are thought to be dead. Over 41,000 Palestinians have died, according to the Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters but says women and children make up over half of the dead.

Hezbollah said it had launched a number of Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 missiles in response to the repeated Israeli attacks that targeted various Lebanon regions and caused the fall of the regime.

Lebanon’s health minister, Firass Abiad, told reporters Saturday that at least seven women and three children were killed in Friday’s airstrike on the building. He reported that another 68 people had been injured.

A government official said the strike was the worst since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah that killed over 100 people.

According to the Defense Minister, the attack broke up the group’s chain of command and led to the deaths of Israeli citizens. He had been on the U.S. most wanted list for years, with a $7 million reward, over his alleged role in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and the taking of American and German hostages in Lebanon during the civil war in the 1980s.

The top Hezbollah military commander along with more than a dozen fighters were killed in an Israeli air strike on a suburb of Lebanon’s capital on Friday.

The military said it had targeted more than 150 militant sites early Monday. Residents of different villages in southern Lebanon posted photos of the airstrikes on social media. The National News Agency reported the bombing of different areas.

It was not clear how many people were affected by the Israeli orders. Communities on both sides of the border have largely emptied out because of the near-daily exchanges of fire.

Israeli strikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon: first results from the Israeli-Lebanese border city of Byblos

“This comes in the framework of the psychological war implemented by the enemy,” Makary said, and urged people “not to give the matter more attention than it deserves.”

Lebanon’s Information Minister Ziad Makary said in a statement that his office in Beirut had received a recorded message telling people to leave the building.

Lebanese media reported that residents received text messages urging them to move away from any building where Hezbollah stores arms until further notice.

An Israeli military official said Israel is focused on aerial operations and has no immediate plans for a ground operation. The official said the strikes were meant to stop Hezbollah from launching more strikes into Israel.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the strikes hit a forested area in the central province of Byblos, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) north of the Israeli-Lebanese border, for the first time since the exchanges began in October. No injuries were reported there. A shepherd was killed and two family members were wounded when Israel bombed targets in northeastern Baalbek and Hermel regions. It said a total of 17 people were wounded in the strikes.

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military on Monday called on residents of southern Lebanon to immediately evacuate homes and other buildings where it claimed Hezbollah stores weapons and said it was carrying out “extensive strikes” against the militant group.