This is a new blow to the Lebanese Islamist movement after the explosions of its transmission devices. Hezbollah announced this Saturday, September 21, the death of two of its leaders in the Israeli strike the day before near Beirut, which killed 16 members of its elite force. “Very concerned”, the UN called on Friday for “de-escalation” and “maximum restraint”, at a time when the front of the war in the Gaza Strip is moving towards Lebanon.
Key information to remember
⇒ Israeli army continues to bomb Hezbollah sites in Lebanon
⇒ Hezbollah announces the death of a second commander in the Israeli strike the day before
⇒ Pagers trapped: at the UN, Lebanon accuses Israel of “terrorism”
Hezbollah claims to have fired rockets at two Israeli military sites
In two separate statements, Hezbollah said Saturday that its fighters had “fired a salvo of Katyusha rockets” at two military sites in northern Israel, adding that it was a “response to the enemy’s attacks” on southern Lebanon. AFP correspondents reported heavy bombardment in various areas of southern Lebanon. The Israeli military later said in a statement sent to AFP that Hezbollah had fired about 90 rockets from Lebanon toward Israel on Saturday.
READ ALSO: Pager explosions in Lebanon: the specter of the powerful Unit 8200, the “Israeli NSA”
Lebanon: Israeli army announces new strikes on Hezbollah sites
“The Israeli army is currently striking sites belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon,” it said in a statement on Saturday, adding that at least 16 Hezbollah fighters were killed in Friday’s strike in Beirut. The Israeli army later said it had struck thousands of rocket launchers in southern Lebanon.
Lebanese Prime Minister cancels participation in UN General Assembly
The Lebanese Prime Minister has cancelled his participation in the UN General Assembly in New York, following Israeli strikes that have sparked a new escalation between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah. In a statement released on Saturday, Najib Mikati called for “an end to the terrible massacres”, while since Tuesday, attacks carried out by or attributed to Israel have left more than 70 dead and some 3,000 injured in Lebanon.
Gaza: Civil Defense reports 17 dead in strike on school hosting displaced people
The Gaza Civil Defense said on Saturday that an Israeli strike on a school hosting displaced people in Gaza City had killed 17 people, with the Israeli army indicating that it had targeted fighters from the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “At least 17 martyrs including eight children, and more than 30 wounded, mostly children and women […] “following an Israeli rocket attack on Al-Zaytoun C school,” said Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal, adding that thousands of people displaced by the war had taken refuge in the school.
Lebanon: 37 dead in Israeli strike near Beirut
The Israeli strike on Friday on the southern suburbs of Beirut left 37 dead and 68 wounded, according to a new report from the authorities. The strike targeted a basement meeting of the command of Hezbollah’s elite force, the al-Radwan unit, killing 16 of its members.
READ ALSO: Pager explosions in Lebanon: beyond the humiliation, is Hezbollah in checkmate?
Hezbollah announces second commander killed in strike
Hezbollah announced on Saturday the death of a second senior commander in the Israeli strike carried out the day before on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of the Lebanese movement. The pro-Iranian group claimed that Ahmed Mahmoud Wahbi had led until the beginning of this year the military operations of its elite Radwan unit in support of the Palestinian Hamas, at war with Israel in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Sixteen Hezbollah fighters died in Friday’s strike, the most important of whom was the head of the Radwan unit, Ibrahim Aqil.
Pagers trapped: at the UN, Lebanon accuses Israel of “terrorism”
The simultaneous explosions of pagers and other communications devices in Lebanon this week are “simply terrorism,” Lebanon’s foreign minister charged Friday, calling Israel a “rogue state.”
READ ALSO: Without pagers or walkie-talkies, Hezbollah’s communication is impossible
“Remotely detonating communications devices in a collective manner, without any regard for those who carry them or who are around is a method of warfare unprecedented in its brutality and terror, targeting thousands of people of different ages going about their business in their homes, in the street, at work, in shopping malls, is simply terrorism,” Abdallah Bou Habib told the UN Security Council.
Hamas condemns Israeli strike on Beirut
Hamas on Friday condemned the Israeli strike on Beirut, calling it a “brutal escalation.” Hamas “condemns the violent and terrorist aggression launched by the Zionist enemy’s air force on the southern suburbs of Beirut,” it said in a statement, adding that it was a “brutal escalation.”
READ ALSO: Explosions in Lebanon: When the Middle East rejoices in the humiliation of Hezbollah
International law prohibits ‘booby-trapping’ civilian objects, says UN
The use of “booby-trapped” devices that look like “harmless” objects could constitute a “war crime,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, denounced on Friday before the Security Council. “International humanitarian law prohibits the use of booby-trapped devices that look like harmless objects,” he said at a meeting requested by Algeria after the simultaneous explosion this week of Hezbollah beepers, walkie-talkies and other transmission devices in Lebanon.
“War has rules,” he stressed, repeating his call for an “independent, rigorous and transparent” investigation. “Targeting thousands of individuals simultaneously, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowing who is in possession of the devices concerned, their location and their environment at the time of the attack, violates international humanitarian law and, where applicable, international humanitarian law,” he insisted. “It is therefore difficult to conceive how, in these circumstances, such attacks could be consistent with the key principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution.”
