Israel has launched its most intense airstrikes on Lebanon since the start of the Gaza war almost a year ago. The raids, launched by Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft late on Thursday, and centered upon southern Lebanon and Beirut, follow the unprecedented series of explosions targeting electronic devices belonging to Hezbollah members in that country, earlier this week. Israel claims that a significant number of leading Hezbollah commanders were killed in an airstrike on Beirut today.
As more members of the international community call upon both sides for restraint, Israel and Hezbollah appear closer to all-out war than they have been at any point in the last 12 months or so.
IAF jets also conducted at least one raid on Beirut this afternoon, killing at least one top Hezbollah commander in what was described by the Israeli Ministry of Defense as a “precision strike.”
Citing two security sources, Reuters confirmed the death of Ibrahim Aqil in the airstrike. One of those sources said that Aqil — assessed to have been one of those behind the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Marine barracks bombings in Beirut in April 1983 — was killed alongside members of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, during a meeting.
Reports out of Israel suggest that the entire senior command of the Radwan force may also have been eliminated. A spokesman for the IDF confirmed that Aqil, other Hezbollah military leaders, and the Radwan force were all gathered underground when they were targeted.
“They gathered underground, under a residential building, in the heart of the Dahiyeh, while using civilians as a human shield. They met to coordinate terror activities against Israeli civilians,” IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a press conference.
The NNA reported that four projectiles hit a building in Dahiyeh, in the south of the Lebanese capital. Lebanon’s Health Ministry says that at least 14 were killed in the strike, and 59 wounded. Previously, NNA reported that at least five children were among those killed in the attack.
This is only the third time that Beirut has been hit by an Israeli airstrike since the latest fighting began between Hezbollah and Israel.
Yesterday, IAF aircraft struck around 100 rocket launchers, plus other targets in southern Lebanon over a period of two hours, the Israeli Ministry of Defense said. The ministry claims that these rockets were poised to be used against targets in Israel. More than 52 airstrikes hit Lebanon starting after 9:00 p.m. local time, according to Lebanon’s state news agency National News Agency, or NNA.
The Israeli military has said attacks on Hezbollah will continue.
“At this moment, there are no changes in the home front command defensive guidelines,” the Israeli Ministry of Defense said.
“In the new phase of the war there are significant opportunities but also significant risks,” said Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. “In the new phase of the war, there are significant opportunities but also significant risks. Hezbollah feels that it is being persecuted and the sequence of military actions will continue,” he added.
The airstrikes followed attacks earlier this week that have been widely attributed to Israel and which left 37 people dead and around 3,000 injured after explosives were triggered in Hezbollah pagers (on Tuesday) and walkie-talkies (Wednesday).
Meanwhile, Hezbollah has launched over a hundred rockets against targets in Israel today. According to the Associated Press, around 140 rockets were fired from Lebanon across the border.
Speaking yesterday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that the device explosions on Tuesday and Wednesday “crossed all red lines.”
“The enemy went beyond all controls, laws, and morals,” Nasrallah said, adding that the attacks “could be considered war crimes or a declaration of war.”
While Nasrallah’s statement was being broadcast, IAF fighters shook Beirut with sonic booms and ejected infrared flares over the Lebanese capital.
Israel and Hezbollah have been involved in exchanges of fire since soon after the October 7, 2023, cross-border attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas which triggered the Gaza war. Hezbollah rockets began targeting Israel last October 8.
The fighting in the border area has not escalated into full-scale war but has resulted in hundreds of deaths, most of them from Hezbollah, as well as Israeli civilians and soldiers. Furthermore, tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from the border area on both sides.
“Our goal is to ensure the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes. As time goes by, Hezbollah will pay an increasing price,” Gallant said yesterday.
Exactly what the Israeli military will do next in Lebanon remains unclear, although as of yesterday there were multiple unconfirmed reports of movements of large numbers of Israeli troops and armor toward the border.
Nasrallah said Hezbollah hoped Israeli troops would enter southern Lebanon, providing the militant group with an “historic opportunity” to take them on in battle.
Israel will face “a crushing response from the Axis of Resistance,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Commander Hossein Salami said yesterday, according to state media. Iran is the major military backer of Hezbollah, while the Axis of Resistance refers to other Iran-aligned militant groups including Hamas, the Houthis in Yemen, and various armed groups in Iraq and Syria.
Today, the Iranian Embassy in Lebanon also directly condemned the airstrike in Beirut, describing it as “Israeli madness and arrogance.”
In a post on X, the Iranian Embassy wrote: “In the strongest terms the Israeli madness and arrogance that crossed all limits by targeting residential areas in the southern suburbs of Beirut… We reaffirm once again that such terrorist crimes will not undermine the determination and faith of the Lebanese. Our sincere condolences to the families of the martyrs and our wishes for a speedy recovery for the wounded.”
The latest developments suggest that the Israel-Hezbollah conflict is now expanding from the area around the border, with concerns now that it could further intensify.
“We will continue to stand by Israel’s right to defend itself, but we don’t want to see any party escalate this conflict, period,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a news briefing.
However, with both sides continuing to launch attacks on each other’s territory, and Israel stepping up its offensive, the prospect of some kind of diplomatic solution, which Washington has pushed for, looks less likely.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com