Israeli troops launched an airstrike Monday (30/9) morning in the Kola area of Beirut, marking the first attack inside the Lebanese capital since the conflict with Hezbollah began in October last year. According to an Anadolu correspondent, Israeli drones targeted apartments on the fifth floor of a building on the road connecting Beirut with Rafik Hariri International Airport.
The attack started a fire in the apartment which was later extinguished by firefighters. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) later confirmed that the attack killed three of their leaders, namely Mohammed Abdel Aal, a member of the political bureau and head of the military and security division; Imad Ouda, military commander in Lebanon; and Abdel Rahman Abdel Aal, whose position was not disclosed.
According to Israeli daily newspaper Hayom, the Israeli army said it had carried out an attack in Beirut and hit Hezbollah targets in the Bekaa Valley, without providing further details. In addition to the attacks in Beirut, Israeli warplanes carried out attacks again early Monday on Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut, southern Lebanon and the Bekaa region, Anadolu reported.
A report from the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) stated that Israel also carried out an airstrike on the El-Buss refugee camp near the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon for the first time.
Hamas said that Fateh Sharif, the group’s commander in Lebanon, along with his wife, daughter and son, were killed in the airstrike.
Israeli fighter jets also bombed the Islamic Health center in the Bekaa town of Sohmor, and ambulances soon arrived to evacuate the injured, according to the NNA report.
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During the night, Israeli warplanes hit the town of Ebba and the area between Zebdine and Choukine in southern Lebanon.
The airstrikes coincided with the arrival of French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Beirut on Sunday evening for talks with Lebanese officials.
Sunday evening, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported that Israeli airstrikes in the southern districts of Tire and Bint Jbeil killed 21 people and injured 125 others.
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Since September 23, Israel has launched its broadest and most intense offensive against Lebanon since clashes with Hezbollah began nearly a year ago.
These attacks have killed at least 916 people, including women and children, and injured 2,709 others, according to Lebanese authorities.
Fears of a wider regional war increased after Israel killed several Hezbollah leaders, most notably Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.
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Nasrallah was killed in an airstrike Friday night. At that time, Israel reportedly dropped 85 tons of bombs on targets in the Haret Hreik neighborhood, a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and Israel have been involved in a cross-border war since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, which killed nearly 41,600 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7 last year.
The international community has warned that an Israeli attack on Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war. (Ant/Z-2)
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