Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
A senior leader of Hezbollah was reportedly the target of a massive Israeli strike that targeted the Lebanese capital, Beirut, early on November 23.
At least four people were killed and 23 others were injured in the strike, which targeted the Basta neighborhood in the center of Beirut, according to Lebanese health authorities. The country’s state-run National News Agency said that the strike “completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles” and left a crater in the ground.
The Israeli Defense Forces did not issue an evacuation order for civilians before launching the strike, as it has done in recent attacks on Hezbollah strongholds in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital.
Hebrew and Arab media speculated that the strike targeted new Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem or the group’s senior commander Talal Hamiya.
Qassem was appointed to lead Hezbollah after his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated on September 27 in an Israeli strike on the group’s underground headquarters in southern Beirut. Hamiya was appointed to lead the group’s operations division after Israel killed Ibrahim Aqil, who held the position before being killed in a Beirut strike on September 20.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah first broke out after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, with the group launching attacks in support of the Palestinian enclave. Israel escalated its attacks on Lebanon starting from September 17 and on September 30 it launched a ground operation against the group.
All in all, the confrontation has so far resulted in 44 civilian deaths in Israel and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights as well as the deaths of at least 74 soldiers and security officers. Meanwhile on the Lebanese side, more than 3,600 people have been killed.
Hezbollah acknowledged the death of more than 500 of its members, including most recently the head of its media relations Mohammad Afif.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
