ReportWire

Tag: Hezbollah

  • At least 6 killed in Israeli airstrike in Beirut as foreign nationals evacuate

    At least 6 killed in Israeli airstrike in Beirut as foreign nationals evacuate

    [ad_1]

    At least six people were killed and seven injured in an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in Beirut overnight, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Thursday, as governments around the world scrambled to evacuate their citizens from the country. The airstrike hit near the capital’s residential Bashoura district.

    Residents reported a sulfur-like smell following the attack, and Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency accused Israel of using phosphorous bombs, which are prohibited by international law for use near civilian populations. Human rights groups have in the past accused Israel of using white phosphorus incendiary shells on towns and villages in conflict-hit southern Lebanon.

    NOTE: This article includes images of wounded children that may disturb some readers. 

    CBS News’ Haley Ott reported that, shortly before the strike, Lebanese health officials said 46 people had been killed and 85 injured by Israeli strikes in the country over the last 24 hours.

    Israeli army airstrikes on south of Beirut
    Smoke and flames rise after the Israeli army carried out airstrikes in the south of the capital Beirut, Lebanon on Oct. 3, 2024.

    Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty Images


    Israel started launching ground incursions into southern Lebanon this week, ramping up its fight against the Iran-backed group Hezbollah while continuing its devastating war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. 

    Israel’s air and ground operations in Gaza killed more than 50 people near the city of Khan Younis on Wednesday, including children, according to Palestinian health officials in the Hamas-run enclave. 

    The war in the densely packed Palestinian territory has killed more than 41,500 people since it was sparked almost a year ago by Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack. 

    Injured children are carried on a stretcher at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip
    Injured children are carried on a stretcher at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Oct. 2, 2024.

    Ramadan Abed/REUTERS


    The fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in Lebanon — a much larger, better armed group than Hamas — was described by the Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday as intense, as it confirmed eight soldiers had died in the operations.

    The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting Wednesday to address the spiraling conflict in Middle East.

    Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. said his country had launched nearly 200 missiles at Israel on Tuesday as a deterrent to further Israeli violence. His Israeli counterpart called the barrage an “unprecedented act of aggression.”

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Tuesday to retaliate against Iran, while an Iranian commander threatened wider strikes on infrastructure if Israel did so.

    President Biden said Wednesday that the U.S. and its other partners were in discussions with Netanyahu’s government about Israel’s pending response to the Iranian attack, which Mr. Biden has stressed should be “in proportion” to Iran’s missile salvo, which was largely thwarted by the U.S. ally’s advanced missile defense systems. 

    Mr. Biden said he would not support an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in response to the missile attack, but that the U.S. and its global allies supported Israel’s right to respond.


    Biden weighs in on Iran attack, port strikes and Helene destruction

    08:27

    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier this week that Iran’s attack was “totally unacceptable, and the entire world should condemn it,” but that “Israel, with the active support of the United States and other partners, effectively defeated this attack.”

    Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the southern Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, which saw terrorists kill 1,200 Israelis and take 251 more as hostages into Gaza, according to the Israeli government. The fighting has increased dramatically over the last two weeks, since Israel was accused of blowing up thousands of Hezbollah members’ communications devices and assassinating the group’s senior leader in a targeted strike in Beirut.

    Japan on Thursday dispatched two Self Defense Force planes to prepare for a possible airlift of Japanese citizens from Lebanon. And the Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Thursday her government had booked 500 seats on commercial aircraft for Australian citizens, permanent residents and their families to leave Lebanon on Saturday.    

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Harris and Trump are tested by the Mideast, Helene and the port strike in the campaign’s final weeks

    Harris and Trump are tested by the Mideast, Helene and the port strike in the campaign’s final weeks

    [ad_1]

    A trio of new trials — a devastating hurricane, expanding conflict in the Mideast and a dockworkers strike that threatens the U.S. economy — are looming over the final weeks of the presidential campaign and could help shape the public mood as voters decide between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.How events shake out — and how the candidates respond — could be decisive as they claw for votes in battleground states.Related video above: Election 2024: What are the key swing states to watch?The sitting president, Joe Biden, is still the steward of a U.S. economy and foreign policy at this tumultuous moment and may well bear ultimate responsibility for how they play out. But how Harris and Trump approach the three disparate issues could have rippling impact on how Americans perceive their two choices this November.”Unfortunately, there are going to be events like this, and this is where you see the leadership of a president show up,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday. “I think this should send a message to Americans: It matters. It matters who sits behind the Resolute Desk.”Harris, with Biden’s help, is trying to display steady calm as a flurry of difficult problems arise all at once. She and Biden on Tuesday toggled between directing Hurricane Helene recovery and rescue response work and huddling with aides in the White House Situation Room to watch as the U.S. helped Israel defend against a massive attack by Iran in retaliation for the killing of Tehran-backed leaders of Lebanese Hezbollah.All the while, they were keeping close contact with economic advisers as dockworkers took to the picket line Tuesday, a walkout stretching from ports in Maine to Texas that threatens to snarl supply chains and cause shortages and higher prices if it stretches on for more than a few weeks.Trump, for his part, lashed out at Harris as in over her head, while claiming that this sort of crush of problems never would have happened under his watch.”We have been talking about World War III, and I don’t want to make predictions,” Trump said at a campaign event in Wisconsin. “The whole world is laughing at us. That’s why Israel was under attack just a little while ago. Because they don’t respect our country anymore.”Yet voters cast Trump aside four years ago in large part because of how they viewed his handling of the swirling economic, social and public health challenges that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden, in comments to reporters before meeting with aides Tuesday to discuss the ongoing hurricane response, seemed to acknowledge the growing frustration with the federal response to the massive storm.”I’ve been in frequent contact with the governors and other leaders in the impacted areas, and we have to jumpstart this recovery process,” Biden said. He will travel to the Carolinas on Wednesday to get a closer look at the hurricane devastation. He is also expected to visit hurricane-impacted areas in Georgia and Florida later this week. “People are scared to death. People wonder whether they’re going to make it.” Video below: Biden pledges federal aid after touring devastation from HeleneHarris, meanwhile, headed to Georgia on Wednesday and North Carolina in the coming days to do the same. Tuesday’s vice presidential debate offered a sampling of how the two campaigns were reacting to new developments to bolster their own messages and sharpen their attacks on their rivals. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz promised “steady leadership” under Harris while Ohio Sen. JD Vance pledged a return to “peace through strength” if Trump is returned to the White House.Biden has stayed off the campaign trail since announcing in July that he was ending his reelection effort amid sliding public approval ratings. His conspicuous absence underscores that Democrats see him as more of a liability than an asset in making the case for Harris, said Christopher Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion in Pennsylvania.But how well Biden deals with the three latest emergency situations could have a big impact in how undecided voters perceive Harris in these final days.”President Biden can’t help Kamala Harris on the stump,” Borick said. “But in a campaign where you are turning over every rock in a few states to get that undecided voter, how he manages these crises over the next several weeks could have an impact.” The Harris campaign understands the risks it faces with multiple crises converging all at once, especially given their varied and unpredictable nature. A prolonged strike, a bungled disaster response or a further expansion of Middle East conflict could raise doubts about Biden’s leadership, and by extension that of his second-in-command.At the same time, Harris campaign aides believe the perilous moment presents an opportunity to demonstrate to voters the stakes of who’s in the job and the seriousness with which they approach it, according to campaign officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal thinking.The former president, in a speech in Waunakee, Wisconsin, and in social media postings Tuesday, offered a mixture of prayer and concern for those impacted by Helene, jabs at Harris for the dockworkers strike, and an aside about the casting of Stanley Kubrick’s film “Full Metal Jacket.””The situation should have never come to this and, had I been president, it would not have,” Trump said in a statement about the strike.Harris aides made a point of having the vice president deliver brief remarks on the Iranian attack Tuesday in between taping interviews for her campaign, aiming to portray her as ready to take command.Late-term tumult has been fixture in American presidential politics, sometimes in the form of scandal and other times with an incumbent hoping to demonstrate that he or his preferred successor would be a steady head at an uncertain time. George W. Bush pushed a rescue package through Congress to stabilize a reeling financial system by creating the Troubled Asset Relief Program amid fears that the economy was on the verge of collapse. The broader economic conditions didn’t help Republican John McCain in the race he lost to Barack Obama. Jimmy Carter’s reelection campaign in 1980 was paralyzed by the Iran hostage crisis. Fifty-two hostages were released on January 20, 1981, soon after his successor, Ronald Reagan, was inaugurated.Lyndon Johnson announced a halting of bombings in North Vietnam days before the 1968 election, a step he hoped would bring the conflict toward a peace settlement. But the South Vietnamese indicated they would not negotiate and Johnson’s vice president, Hubert Humphrey, lost narrowly to Republican Richard Nixon.”The efforts by incumbents to help themselves or their party’s nominee with ‘October surprises’ go back quite a ways,” said Edward Frantz, a University of Indianapolis historian. “In this current climate, I’m not sure how many voters can be persuaded by a candidate this late in the game trying to show competency.”___AP writer Josh Boak contributed to this report.

    WASHINGTON —

    A trio of new trials — a devastating hurricane, expanding conflict in the Mideast and a dockworkers strike that threatens the U.S. economy — are looming over the final weeks of the presidential campaign and could help shape the public mood as voters decide between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.

    How events shake out — and how the candidates respond — could be decisive as they claw for votes in battleground states.

    Related video above: Election 2024: What are the key swing states to watch?

    The sitting president, Joe Biden, is still the steward of a U.S. economy and foreign policy at this tumultuous moment and may well bear ultimate responsibility for how they play out. But how Harris and Trump approach the three disparate issues could have rippling impact on how Americans perceive their two choices this November.

    “Unfortunately, there are going to be events like this, and this is where you see the leadership of a president show up,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday. “I think this should send a message to Americans: It matters. It matters who sits behind the Resolute Desk.”

    Harris, with Biden’s help, is trying to display steady calm as a flurry of difficult problems arise all at once.

    She and Biden on Tuesday toggled between directing Hurricane Helene recovery and rescue response work and huddling with aides in the White House Situation Room to watch as the U.S. helped Israel defend against a massive attack by Iran in retaliation for the killing of Tehran-backed leaders of Lebanese Hezbollah.

    All the while, they were keeping close contact with economic advisers as dockworkers took to the picket line Tuesday, a walkout stretching from ports in Maine to Texas that threatens to snarl supply chains and cause shortages and higher prices if it stretches on for more than a few weeks.

    Trump, for his part, lashed out at Harris as in over her head, while claiming that this sort of crush of problems never would have happened under his watch.

    “We have been talking about World War III, and I don’t want to make predictions,” Trump said at a campaign event in Wisconsin. “The whole world is laughing at us. That’s why Israel was under attack just a little while ago. Because they don’t respect our country anymore.”

    Yet voters cast Trump aside four years ago in large part because of how they viewed his handling of the swirling economic, social and public health challenges that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Biden, in comments to reporters before meeting with aides Tuesday to discuss the ongoing hurricane response, seemed to acknowledge the growing frustration with the federal response to the massive storm.

    “I’ve been in frequent contact with the governors and other leaders in the impacted areas, and we have to jumpstart this recovery process,” Biden said. He will travel to the Carolinas on Wednesday to get a closer look at the hurricane devastation. He is also expected to visit hurricane-impacted areas in Georgia and Florida later this week. “People are scared to death. People wonder whether they’re going to make it.”

    Video below: Biden pledges federal aid after touring devastation from Helene

    Harris, meanwhile, headed to Georgia on Wednesday and North Carolina in the coming days to do the same.

    Tuesday’s vice presidential debate offered a sampling of how the two campaigns were reacting to new developments to bolster their own messages and sharpen their attacks on their rivals. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz promised “steady leadership” under Harris while Ohio Sen. JD Vance pledged a return to “peace through strength” if Trump is returned to the White House.

    Biden has stayed off the campaign trail since announcing in July that he was ending his reelection effort amid sliding public approval ratings.

    His conspicuous absence underscores that Democrats see him as more of a liability than an asset in making the case for Harris, said Christopher Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion in Pennsylvania.

    But how well Biden deals with the three latest emergency situations could have a big impact in how undecided voters perceive Harris in these final days.

    “President Biden can’t help Kamala Harris on the stump,” Borick said. “But in a campaign where you are turning over every rock in a few states to get that undecided voter, how he manages these crises over the next several weeks could have an impact.”

    The Harris campaign understands the risks it faces with multiple crises converging all at once, especially given their varied and unpredictable nature. A prolonged strike, a bungled disaster response or a further expansion of Middle East conflict could raise doubts about Biden’s leadership, and by extension that of his second-in-command.

    At the same time, Harris campaign aides believe the perilous moment presents an opportunity to demonstrate to voters the stakes of who’s in the job and the seriousness with which they approach it, according to campaign officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal thinking.

    The former president, in a speech in Waunakee, Wisconsin, and in social media postings Tuesday, offered a mixture of prayer and concern for those impacted by Helene, jabs at Harris for the dockworkers strike, and an aside about the casting of Stanley Kubrick’s film “Full Metal Jacket.”

    “The situation should have never come to this and, had I been president, it would not have,” Trump said in a statement about the strike.

    Harris aides made a point of having the vice president deliver brief remarks on the Iranian attack Tuesday in between taping interviews for her campaign, aiming to portray her as ready to take command.

    Late-term tumult has been fixture in American presidential politics, sometimes in the form of scandal and other times with an incumbent hoping to demonstrate that he or his preferred successor would be a steady head at an uncertain time.

    George W. Bush pushed a rescue package through Congress to stabilize a reeling financial system by creating the Troubled Asset Relief Program amid fears that the economy was on the verge of collapse. The broader economic conditions didn’t help Republican John McCain in the race he lost to Barack Obama.

    Jimmy Carter’s reelection campaign in 1980 was paralyzed by the Iran hostage crisis. Fifty-two hostages were released on January 20, 1981, soon after his successor, Ronald Reagan, was inaugurated.

    Lyndon Johnson announced a halting of bombings in North Vietnam days before the 1968 election, a step he hoped would bring the conflict toward a peace settlement. But the South Vietnamese indicated they would not negotiate and Johnson’s vice president, Hubert Humphrey, lost narrowly to Republican Richard Nixon.

    “The efforts by incumbents to help themselves or their party’s nominee with ‘October surprises’ go back quite a ways,” said Edward Frantz, a University of Indianapolis historian. “In this current climate, I’m not sure how many voters can be persuaded by a candidate this late in the game trying to show competency.”

    ___

    AP writer Josh Boak contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Israel’s war on Lebanon triggers unprecedented displacement crisis

    Israel’s war on Lebanon triggers unprecedented displacement crisis

    [ad_1]

    Beirut, Lebanon – On Friday evening, a sudden explosion heavily damaged Dina’s* home in the Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon’s capital Beirut. It was caused by the shock wave of an Israeli air attack, during which dozens of bombs were dropped at once on a nearby apartment complex in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of the capital that is about two kilometres (1.2 miles) away from the refugee camp.

    The huge attack killed Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and an unknown number of civilians after it levelled several residential buildings, leaving thousands more destitute. The blasts shattered the glass of small shops and cars in the camp, blew doors off their hinges and devastated nearby buildings and homes, explained 35-year-old Dina.

    The explosions triggered mayhem as thousands of people and vehicles in the camp rushed towards its narrow exits. Dina grabbed her 12-year-old brother and ran down the stairs from their home, where she saw their elderly mother lying on the ground covered in debris.

    Initially fearing that their mother was dead, Dina’s brother broke down. However, it turned out she was still conscious.

    “My mother was confused and delirious, but I helped her up and told her that we had to run. I knew more bombs were coming,” Dina told Al Jazeera from a cafe in Hamra, a bustling neighbourhood in central Beirut that has absorbed thousands of displaced people from across Lebanon.

    Unprecedented crisis

    Israel escalated its conflict with Hezbollah in the second half of September, devastating southern Lebanon and triggering mass displacement.

    According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), one million people have been uprooted from their homes due to Israel’s attacks, 90 percent of them in the last week.

    But Lebanon’s caretaker government – operating without a president and reeling from a severe economic crisis – has struggled to respond to people’s needs. Thousands are sleeping on the floors of classrooms after the government converted more than 500 schools into displacement shelters. 

    Thousands of others are sleeping in mosques, under bridges and in the streets. But the crisis could get even worse now that Israel has begun a ground offensive.

    “A ground invasion will compound the problem,” said Karim Emile Bitar, a professor of international relations at Saint Joseph University in Beirut. “We already have more than one million people who left their homes. That is around the same number we had in 1982, when Israel invaded Lebanon and reached Beirut.”

    Beirut – facing Israeli air attacks itself – is ill-prepared to deal with the influx of displaced people from southern Lebanon [Philippe Pernot/Al Jazeera]

    Moments after Israel announced its ground offensive, it ordered civilians to evacuate 29 towns in south Lebanon.

    Nora Serhan, who is originally from southern Lebanon, said that her uncle remains in one of the border villages. He refused to leave when Hezbollah and Israel began an initially low-scale conflict on October 8, 2023.

    Hezbollah had begun firing projectiles at Israel with the stated aim of reducing pressure on its ally Hamas in Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 41,600 people and uprooted nearly the entire 2.3 million population.

    The devastating war on Gaza followed a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, in which 1,139 people were killed and around 250 taken captive.

    After Israel and Hezbollah began exchanging fire, Serhan’s uncle chose to stay put. She suspects that he did not want to abandon his house and surroundings, even though the conflict cut off his water and electricity. But since Israel announced its ground offensive, Serhan’s family lost contact with him.

    “When [Israel escalated the war last week], I think that maybe it became safer for my uncle to stay in the village than to risk fleeing on the roads,” she told Al Jazeera.

    Losing home

    Hundreds of thousands of people have abandoned their homes and villages to seek safety in Beirut, as well as in towns further north.

    Abdel Latif Hamada, 57, fled his home in southern Lebanon last week after Israel began bombing the region. He said that a bomb killed one of his neighbours, while another was trapped inside his home after rubble and debris piled up outside the entrance.

    Hamada risked his own life to clear the rubble and save his neighbour. He said that they were able to flee five minutes before Israel bombed their own homes.

    “I didn’t rescue him. God rescued him,” said Hamada, a bald man with a nest of wrinkles around his eyes.

    Despite fleeing just in time, Hamada wasn’t safe yet. He hitched an exhausting and terrifying 14-hour ride to Beirut – the journey typically takes four. Thousands of cars were squeezed together trying to reach safety, while roads were obstructed by rubble and stones that were blown off nearby homes and buildings.

    “Israeli planes were all over the sky and we saw them drop bombs in front of us. I often had to get out of the vehicle to help clear the debris and stones obstructing our car,” Hamada told Al Jazeera.

    As he took another drag from his cigarette, Hamada said that he wasn’t scared when Israel escalated its attacks. Over the course of his life, Israel has displaced him three times from his village, including during its invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and its devastating assault on the country in 2006.

    In the latter war, an Israeli bomb fell on his home and killed his wife Khadeja.

    “I’m not scared for my own life anymore. I’m just scared of what awaits the generation ahead of me,” Hamada said.

    Permanent displacement?

    Civilians and analysts fear that the ongoing displacement crisis could end up being protracted – even permanent.

    According to Michael Young, an expert on Lebanon with the Carnegie Middle East Centre, Israel’s objective over the last two weeks has been to create a major humanitarian crisis for the Lebanese state and particularly for Hezbollah, which represents many Shia Muslims in the country.

    Aid for displaced people in Beirut
    Civilians fleeing the Israeli attacks have found limited supplies for them in the capital Beirut [Philippe Pernot/Al Jazeera]

    “What’s worrisome is what will Israel do when it does invade? Will they begin dynamiting homes as they did in Gaza? In other words, do they make the temporary humanitarian crisis a permanent one by ensuring that nobody can return [to their homes]?” Young asked.

    “This is a big question mark,” he said. “Once the villages are emptied, what will the Israelis do to them?”

    Hamada and Dina both vow to return to their homes again, when they can.

    Dina said her father and sister have already gone back to Burj al-Barajneh – now a ghost town – due to the terrible conditions in the displacement shelters, where there are few basic provisions and no running water.

    She added that there is a growing feeling among everyone in the country that Israel will turn large swathes of Lebanon into a disaster zone, just as they did in Gaza.

    “They are going to do the same thing here that they did in Gaza,” Dina said.

    “This is a war on civilians.”

    *Dina’s name has been changed to protect her anonymity.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • White House warns direct attack from Iran against Israel will have severe consequences

    White House warns direct attack from Iran against Israel will have severe consequences

    [ad_1]

    White House warns direct attack from Iran against Israel will have severe consequences – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    A senior White House official says that the U.S. believes Iran is preparing to imminently launch a missile attack against Israel and warns that should there be an attack, Iran will face consequences. CBS News White House reporter Willie James Inman and CBS News senior national security correspondent Charlie D’Agata have the latest.

    Be the first to know

    Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.


    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Israeli strikes in Lebanon decapitate Hezbollah, but as civilian deaths mount, neither side backs down

    Israeli strikes in Lebanon decapitate Hezbollah, but as civilian deaths mount, neither side backs down

    [ad_1]

    Beirut, Lebanon — Israel expanded its airstrikes on Iran-backed groups in Lebanon and beyond over the weekend, launching raids thousands of miles away on Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The Israeli attack on Houthi targets in the Yemeni port city of Hodeida came after months of U.S. and British strikes against the group – a joint response to the rebels’ regular rocket, drone and missile attacks on international military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

    The Israeli strikes also came, however, amid growing concern that Israel’s nearly-year-long war with the Houthi’s ideological allies Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon could spiral into a broad regional conflict, drawing in Iran and even the U.S. to back their respective allies.

    Israel hit the Houthis just a couple days after it assassinated Hezbollah’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah with a massive airstrike on Friday.

    After that strike, Israeli forces continued pounding purported Hezbollah and Hamas targets across Lebanon’s south and east all weekend, but the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, the Hezbollah stronghold where Nasrallah was killed along with another senior commander and two other high-ranking members of the group, has borne the brunt.

    Funeral of people killed in an Israeli attack on the city of Ain Deleb, in Sidon
    A man mourns people killed in an Israeli strike in the village of Ain Deleb, near the southern Lebanon city of Sidon, Sept. 30, 2024.

    Aziz Taher/REUTERS


    The well-armed group’s surviving deputy leader Naim Qassem vowed Monday that Hezbollah would carry on – despite its near decapitation via airstrikes, and before that exploding pagers and walkie talkies – “facing the Israeli enemy to support Gaza and Palestine.”

    He accused the U.S. of offering Israel “limitless support” for Israel to carry out “massacres” in Lebanon and Gaza, and then claimed Hezbollah had fired even more weapons at Israel, and deep into the country, since Nasrallah was killed.

    But Hezbollah’s incessant drone and rocket fire is virtually wiped out by Israel’s advanced air defenses before it reaches any targets. There have been civilians injured over the last couple weeks, but in Lebanon’s capital, entire residential buildings have been flattened.

    CBS News went to see the aftermath of one Israeli strike Sunday on the edge of Dahiyeh. A five-storey-building was reduced to rubble. It was still smoldering as another massive boom reverberated in the distance, underscoring the unpredictable security situation for Lebanese civilians as Israel carries on, determined, it says, to push Hezbollah many miles away from its border to stop the cross-border attacks.

    israel-map-middle-east.jpg
     

    Getty/iStockphoto


    Israel has assassinated at least five Hezbollah commanders over the past week alone, and 19 in just a few months — dealing a major blow to the U.S.-designated terrorist group. Hezbollah ramped up its attacks on Israel a day after Israeli forces launched their first airstrikes on its Hamas allies, in immediate response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre.

    Hezbollah has acknowledged losing more than 30 operatives in recent weeks, including many of its senior leaders, but the ferocity and pace of the Israeli strikes in Lebanon has also taken a massive toll on Lebanese civilians. At least 1,000 people have been killed in just two weeks — 105 on Sunday alone.

    According to Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the strikes have displaced almost 1 million people from their homes, most of them fleeing southern Lebanon for Beirut of other locations further north.

    Some of those displaced families — including many with young children — have come to Beirut’s iconic Blue Mosque, desperate to find safety. The place of worship has become a refuge for people who told CBS News they’d rather sleep in the courtyard’s surrounding the building, out in the open, than go back to their neighborhoods amid Israel’s bombardment.

    Samar al-Attrash is among those who have found sanctuary outside the mosque. She fled her home in Dahiyeh with her husband and their three children, and little more than the clothes on their backs.

    lebanon-displaced-beirut-mosque.jpg
    CBS News correspondent Imtiaz Tyab (right) speaks with Samar al-Attrash as she sits with her husband and their three young children on the steps of Beirut’s Blue Mosque, to which they fled seeking shelter amid Israeli bombing near their home in the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, Sept, 28, 2024.

    CBS News


    “We have nowhere to go to but here,” the mother told us. “We are very scared and we can’t go back to Dahiyeh at all until the situation gets better.”

    “I told my kids it’s scary and that we can’t go home,” she said. “I’m only telling [them] a little at a time so I don’t traumatize them.”

    President Biden reiterated his warning on Sunday that an all-out regional war must be avoided, but as he spoke, CBS News correspondent Chris Livesay and his team reported that tanks and armored vehicles were massing on the Israeli side of the country’s northern border with Lebanon. 

    gallant-idf-lebanon-border.jpg
    A photo provided by the Israel Defense Forces shows Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, in black, meeting Israeli forces near the country’s northern border with Lebanon, Sept. 30, 2024.

    IDF handout


    On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant paid another visit to Israeli troops waiting for orders near the border, telling them killing Nasrallah was, “an important step, but it is not the final one.”

    “We will employ all of our capabilities,” Gallant told the Israeli troops, “and this includes you.”

    It was the latest clear signal that Israel is preparing for some kind of ground operation in Lebanon — a move that has the potential to spark fighting even deadlier than anything seen since Oct. 7.

    Despite the body blows dealt by Israel, Hezbollah’s deputy leader claimed Monday that the group’s “military capabilities are solid,” that it “will continue along the same path” it has been on for months – and that it is ready for a war with Israel.

    Tucker Reals

    contributed to this report.

    Imtiaz Tyab


    headshot-600-imtiaz-tyab.jpg

    Imtiaz Tyab is a CBS News correspondent based in London and reports for all platforms, including the “CBS Evening News,” “CBS Mornings,” “CBS Sunday Morning” and CBS News 24/7. He has extensive experience reporting from major global flashpoints, including the Middle East and the war on terror.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Hassan Nasrallah & Hezbollah | 60 Minutes Archive

    Hassan Nasrallah & Hezbollah | 60 Minutes Archive

    [ad_1]

    Hassan Nasrallah & Hezbollah | 60 Minutes Archive – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    In 2003, Ed Bradley traveled to Beirut to interview Hassan Nasrallah as part of a 60 Minutes report on the Islamist terrorist organization Hezbollah. On Friday, Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s longtime leader, was killed during an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.

    Be the first to know

    Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.


    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Who was Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader killed by Israeli airstrike in Beirut?

    Who was Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader killed by Israeli airstrike in Beirut?

    [ad_1]

    Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who led the terror group for more than 30 years, was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

    Nasrallah, 64, was killed during a massive airstrike on the Iran-backed group’s “central headquarters” in Beirut, Lebanon on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. 

    Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s death, saying its longtime leader “has joined his fellow martyrs.”

    The strike also killed Ali Karki, the commander of Hezbollah’s southern front, and other Hezbollah leaders, the IDF said. The leaders were in a command facility “embedded under a residential building,” the IDF said. An Israeli military official said real-time intelligence on an operational opportunity allowed them to carry out the strike.

    The afternoon strike was part of a series of large explosions targeting leaders of the militant group, which has been firing rockets and drones across Lebanon’s southern border into Israel for nearly a year amid the war between Israel and Hamas. 

    People stand near a picture of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
    People stand near a picture of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during the funeral of Hezbollah member Ali Mohamed Chalbi, in Kfar Melki, Lebanon, Sept. 19, 2024.

    Aziz Taher / REUTERS


    Hassan Nasrallah’s background 

    Nasrallah was born in Beirut in 1960, the ninth of 10 children in a Shia family. His family was poor and lived an in impoverished northern suburb of Sharshabouk; his father sold vegetables. The city was then known as the “Paris of the Middle East,” but when Lebanon’s civil war broke out in 1975, the city deteriorated into disaster. 

    During that time, Nasrallah’s family fled Beirut. He joined a Shia militia called the Amal Movement, which later evolved into Hezbollah, which means “Party of God.” The group has been backed by Iran since its inception, according to Israeli and U.S. officials, with Iran training fighters and sending hundreds of millions of dollars annually. 

    Nasrallah studied in Iran for a time, then returned to the group and became Hezbollah’s secretary general after Israel assassinated his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, in a 1992 helicopter strike. 

    He held the title of “sayyid,” an honorific meant to the Shiite cleric’s lineage dating back to the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, according to the AFP. 

    Hezbollah under Hasrallah’s leadership

    Under Nasrallah’s fiery and charismatic leadership, Hezbollah crystallized its threats to destroy Israel and the U.S. presence in Lebanon. Washington declared the organization a terror group in October 1997, five years after Nasrallah took control. 

    Supporters saw Nasrallah as a charismatic and shrewd strategist who strengthened bonds with leaders in Iran and militant groups like Hamas, the AFP reported, while the West and some oil-rich Gulf Arab countries saw him as an extremist.  

    The group’s military wing has been linked to the mass casualty bombings of two U.S. embassy buildings in the 1980s. The bombings killed more than 80 people and wounded hundreds more. Hezbollah has also been linked to airplane hijackings, kidnappings, suicide bombings and espionage around the world. 

    Nasrallah was credited with leading the war of attrition that led to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from South Lebanon in 2000, after an 18-year occupation, the AFP reported. He also spearheaded Hezbollah’s 34-day war against Israel in 2006.

    Nasrallah also got the group heavily involved in neighboring Syria’s brutal conflict in 2011. Hezbollah fighters sided with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces, even as the rest of the Arab world ostracized him, the AFP reported. Hezbollah, and other key allies like Russia and Iran, helped Assad stay in power and retake territory lost earlier in the conflict.


    Israel’s Netanyahu addresses U.N. amid conflicts with Hezbollah, Hamas

    13:10

    Hezbollah has also expanded politically under Nasrallah’s leadership. After Lebanon’s civil war came to an end in 1990, Nasrallah gradually turned the organization into a “state within a state,” according to the AFP, with an elaborate social welfare network that provided schools, clinics, and housing in the impoverished and predominantly Shiite parts of Lebanon. Hezbollah continued to grow throughout the country, eventually winning elected seats in the nation’s parliament. 

    Nasrallah’s death leaves a void of leadership in the strongest paramilitary force in the Middle East.

    Nasrallah feared assassination 

    Nasrallah’s public appearances became rarer, even as the profile of Hezbollah grew. Afraid of assassination, he chose to deliver speeches via video from secret locations. The messages were broadcast on Hezbollah’s own radio and satellite TV station, leading to his status as an icon in Lebanon and throughout the Arab world, according to the AFP. 

    In his last televised remarks, on September 19, he blamed Israel for an exploding pager and walkie-talkie attack that killed dozens of Hezbollah soldiers and wounded several thousand more. In his final words, he vowed that “retribution will come.” 

    Nasrallah is survived by his wife, Fatima Yassin, his three sons Jawad, Mohammed-Mahdi and Mohammed Ali, and several grandchildren, according to the AFP. His eldest son, Hadi, was killed in 1997, while fighting against Israeli forces, and his daughter Zeinab was reportedly killed in the Beiruit airstrike on Friday.

    Kerry Breen

    Kerry Breen is a news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University’s Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News’ TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Hezbollah confirms leader Nasrallah was killed in Israeli strike

    Hezbollah confirms leader Nasrallah was killed in Israeli strike

    [ad_1]

    Lebanon’s Hezbollah group has confirmed that its leader and one of its founders, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike.A statement Saturday said Nasrallah “has joined his fellow martyrs.”The statement says Hezbollah vows to “continue the holy war against the enemy and in support of Palestine.”Nasrallah led the militant group for more than three decades. His death could dramatically reshape conflicts across the Middle East.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below:___ Israel maintained a heavy barrage of airstrikes against Hezbollah on Saturday, as Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets toward Israel.Related video above: In speech to UN, Israeli PM Netanyahu shows maps to illustrate choice between future of ‘blessing’ or ‘curse’The Israeli military said it was mobilizing additional reserve soldiers as tensions escalate with Lebanon. The military said Saturday morning it was activating three battalions of reserve soldiers, after earlier sending two brigades to northern Israel earlier in the week to train for a possible ground invasion.Rumors swirled after Israel claimed it struck Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut on Friday. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the strikes, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity, including one United States official.On Saturday morning, the Israeli military carried out several strikes in southern Beirut and eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Hezbollah launched dozens of projectiles across northern and central Israel and the Israel-occupied West Bank.In Beirut’s southern suburbs, smoke rose and the streets were empty after the area was pummeled overnight by heavy Israeli airstrikes. Shelters set up in the city center for displaced people were overflowing. Many families slept in public squares and beaches or in their cars. On the roads leading to the mountains above the capital, hundreds of people could be seen making an exodus on foot, holding infants and whatever belongings they could carry.At least six people were killed and 91 were wounded in the strikes against Hezbollah on Friday, Lebanon’s health ministry said. It was the biggest blast to hit the Lebanese capital in the past year and appeared likely to push the escalating conflict closer to full-fledged war. At least 720 people have been killed in Lebanon during the week, according to the Health Ministry.The death toll is likely to rise significantly as teams comb through the rubble of six buildings. Israel launched a series of strikes on other areas of the southern suburbs following the initial blast.___Mroue reported from Beirut.

    BEIRUT (AP) —

    Lebanon’s Hezbollah group has confirmed that its leader and one of its founders, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

    A statement Saturday said Nasrallah “has joined his fellow martyrs.”

    The statement says Hezbollah vows to “continue the holy war against the enemy and in support of Palestine.”

    Nasrallah led the militant group for more than three decades. His death could dramatically reshape conflicts across the Middle East.

    THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below:

    ___

    Israel maintained a heavy barrage of airstrikes against Hezbollah on Saturday, as Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets toward Israel.

    Related video above: In speech to UN, Israeli PM Netanyahu shows maps to illustrate choice between future of ‘blessing’ or ‘curse’

    The Israeli military said it was mobilizing additional reserve soldiers as tensions escalate with Lebanon. The military said Saturday morning it was activating three battalions of reserve soldiers, after earlier sending two brigades to northern Israel earlier in the week to train for a possible ground invasion.

    Rumors swirled after Israel claimed it struck Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut on Friday. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the strikes, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity, including one United States official.

    On Saturday morning, the Israeli military carried out several strikes in southern Beirut and eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Hezbollah launched dozens of projectiles across northern and central Israel and the Israel-occupied West Bank.

    In Beirut’s southern suburbs, smoke rose and the streets were empty after the area was pummeled overnight by heavy Israeli airstrikes. Shelters set up in the city center for displaced people were overflowing. Many families slept in public squares and beaches or in their cars. On the roads leading to the mountains above the capital, hundreds of people could be seen making an exodus on foot, holding infants and whatever belongings they could carry.

    At least six people were killed and 91 were wounded in the strikes against Hezbollah on Friday, Lebanon’s health ministry said. It was the biggest blast to hit the Lebanese capital in the past year and appeared likely to push the escalating conflict closer to full-fledged war. At least 720 people have been killed in Lebanon during the week, according to the Health Ministry.

    The death toll is likely to rise significantly as teams comb through the rubble of six buildings. Israel launched a series of strikes on other areas of the southern suburbs following the initial blast.

    ___

    Mroue reported from Beirut.


    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Israel says Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah killed by strike in Lebanon’s capital Beirut

    Israel says Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah killed by strike in Lebanon’s capital Beirut

    [ad_1]

    Israel’s military said Saturday that it had killed the overall leader of the Iran-backed group Hezbollah in an airstrike the previous day on the group’s “central headquarters” in Beirut, Lebanon. The Friday afternoon strike was the latest in a series of massive explosions targeting leaders of the militant group, which has been firing rockets and drones across Lebanon’s southern border into Israel for almost a year.

    The Israel Defense Forces said in a Saturday statement that Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than three decades, “was eliminated by the IDF, together with Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders” in a strike by Israeli fighter jets on the group’s command facility “embedded under a residential building” in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have long been a stronghold of the U.S.-designated terrorist group.

    “The strike was conducted while Hezbollah’s senior chain of command were operating from the headquarters and advancing terrorist activities against the citizens of the State of Israel,” the IDF said.

    People stand near a picture of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
    People stand near a picture of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during the funeral of Hezbollah member Ali Mohamed Chalbi, in Kfar Melki, Lebanon, Sept. 19, 2024.

    Aziz Taher / REUTERS


    The Friday strikes leveled multiple high-rise apartment buildings in the biggest blasts to hit the Lebanese capital since Hezbollah started firing on Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in response to Israel launching its war on the group’s Hamas allies in the Gaza Strip. 

    At least six people were killed and 91 were wounded in the strike, Lebanon’s health ministry said Friday, noting that the toll could rise as people were believed to be buried under rubble at the site.

    A senior Israeli official said Friday that the IDF had sought to minimize civilian casualties by striking in the daytime, when many people wouldn’t be home. He said Israel was not seeking a broader regional war, but that Hezbollah’s military capabilities had been meaningfully degraded by the recent series of Israeli military operations and that the objective of the strike was to leave Hezbollah with a significant leadership gap. 

    People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut
    People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, Sept. 27, 2024.

    Mohamed Azakir / REUTERS


    In a possible early sign of the strikes’ significance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly cut short a visit to the United States to return home on Friday instead of waiting until the end of Sabbath on Saturday evening, his office said. Israeli politicians do not normally travel on the Sabbath except for matters of great import.

    Hours earlier, Netanyahu addressed the U.N., vowing that Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah would continue — further dimming hopes for an internationally backed cease-fire. Several delegates stood up and walked out before he gave his address. 

    To a degree unseen in past conflicts, Israel this past week has aimed to eliminate Hezbollah’s senior leadership. Israeli army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the strikes targeted the main Hezbollah headquarters, located beneath residential buildings. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s office said he was huddling with the head of Israel’s air force and other top commanders at military headquarters, following updates.

    In a separate statement Saturday, Israeli Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said Nasrallah’s killing  demonstrated “anyone who threatens the citizens of Israel — we will know how to reach them.” 

    The series of gigantic blasts around nightfall on Friday reduced six buildings to rubble in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburbs, according to Lebanon’s national news agency. The shock wave rattled windows and shook houses some 18 miles north of Beirut. TV footage showed several craters — one with a car toppled into it — amid collapsed buildings in the densely populated, predominantly Shiite neighborhood.

    Smoke rises above buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 27, 2024, in this still image obtained from social media video. 

    Social media image /via REUTERS


    Nasrallah had been in hiding for years, very rarely appearing in public. He regularly gave speeches, but always by video from unknown locations. The site hit Friday evening had not been publicly known as Hezbollah’s main headquarters, though it is located in the group’s “security quarters,” a heavily guarded part of Haret Hreik where it has offices and runs several nearby hospitals.

    The Pentagon said the U.S. had no advance warning of the strikes.

    The White House said President Biden was briefed by his national security team “several times” on Friday and “has directed the Pentagon to assess and adjust as necessary U.S. force posture in the region to enhance deterrence, ensure force protection, and support the full range of U.S. objectives. He has also directed his team to ensure that U.S. embassies in the region take all protective measures as appropriate.”

    “The events of the past week and the past few hours underscore what a precarious moment this is for the Middle East and for the world,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference Friday in New York. “Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorism. The way it does so matters. The choices that all parties make in the coming days will determine which path this region is on, with profound consequences for its people now and possibly for years to come.” 

    Israel dramatically intensified its airstrikes in Lebanon this week, saying it is determined to put an end to more than 11 months of Hezbollah fire into its territory. The scope of Israel’s operation remains unclear, but officials have said a ground invasion to push the militant group away from the border is a possibility. Israel has moved thousands of troops toward the border in preparation.

    Israel’s strikes this week have killed more than 720 people in Lebanon, including dozens of women and children, according to Health Ministry statistics.

    A predawn strike Friday in the mainly Sunni border town of Chebaa hit a home, killing nine members of the same family, the state news agency said. A resident identified the dead as Hussein Zahra, his wife Ratiba, their five children and two of their grandchildren.

    At the U.N., Netanyahu vowed to “continue degrading Hezbollah” until Israel achieves its goals. His comments dampened hopes for a U.S.-backed call for a 21-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah to allow time for a diplomatic solution. Hezbollah has not responded to the proposal.


    Netanyahu addresses United Nations as Israel continues targeting Hezbollah

    07:46

    Iranian-backed Hezbollah, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which saw terrorists kill some 1,200 people in Israel and take 251 hostage. Since then, Hezbollah and the Israeli military have traded fire almost daily, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes on both sides of the border.

    An Israeli security official said he expects a possible war against Hezbollah would not last for as long as the current war in Gaza, because the Israeli military’s goals are much narrower.

    In Gaza, Israel aims to dismantle Hamas’ military and political regime, but the goal in Lebanon is to push Hezbollah away from the border with Israel — “not a high bar like Gaza” in terms of operational objectives, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to military briefing guidelines.

    Olivia Gazis

    contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Israel says it struck Hezbollah’s headquarters in huge blast in Beirut

    Israel says it struck Hezbollah’s headquarters in huge blast in Beirut

    [ad_1]

    The Israeli military said Friday it struck the headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut, where a series of massive explosions leveled multiple buildings and sent clouds of orange and black smoke into the sky in the biggest blasts to hit the Lebanese capital in the past year. At least two people were killed and dozens were wounded, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

    Three major Israeli TV channels said Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs. The unsourced reports could not immediately be confirmed by The Associated Press, and the army declined comment. But given the size and timing of the blasts, there were strong indications that a senior leader may have been inside the buildings struck.

    People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut
    People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, Sept. 27, 2024.

    Mohamed Azakir / REUTERS


    In a possible further sign of the strikes’ significance, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly cut short a visit to the United States and was returning home instead of waiting until the end of Sabbath on Saturday evening, his office said. Israeli politicians do not normally travel on the Sabbath except for matters of great import.

    Hours earlier, Netanyahu addressed the U.N., vowing that Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah would continue — further dimming hopes for an internationally backed cease-fire. News of the blasts then came as Netanyahu was briefing reporters traveling with him. A military aide whispered into his ear, and Netanyahu quickly ended the briefing.

    To a degree unseen in past conflicts, Israel this past week has aimed to eliminate Hezbollah’s senior leadership. Israeli army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the strikes targeted the main Hezbollah headquarters, located beneath residential buildings. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s office said he was huddling with the head of Israel’s air force and other top commanders at military headquarters, following updates.

    The series of gigantic blasts at around nightfall reduced six buildings to rubble in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburbs, according to Lebanon’s national news agency. The shock wave rattled windows and shook houses some 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Beirut. TV footage showed several craters — one with a car toppled into it — amid collapsed buildings in the densely populated, predominantly Shiite neighborhood.

    Smoke rises above buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 27, 2024, in this still image obtained from social media video. 

    Social media image /via REUTERS


    First responders were still searching under the rubble hours later as others struggled to put out fires. The full scope of casualties was not immediately clear, the health ministry said, adding that 15 of the 76 wounded had been hospitalized. Many people who live in the vicinity were seen gathering belongings and fleeing along a main road out of the district.

    Nasrallah has been in hiding for years, very rarely appearing in public. He regularly gives speeches – but always by video from unknown locations. The site hit Friday evening had not been publicly known as Hezbollah’s main headquarters, though it is located in the group’s “security quarters,” a heavily guarded part of Haret Hreik where it has offices and runs several nearby hospitals.

    People stand near a picture of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
    People stand near a picture of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during the funeral of Hezbollah member Ali Mohamed Chalbi, in Kfar Melki, Lebanon, Sept. 19, 2024.

    Aziz Taher / REUTERS


    The Pentagon said the U.S. had no advance warning of the strikes.

    Israel dramatically intensified its airstrikes in Lebanon this week, saying it is determined to put an end to more than 11 months of Hezbollah fire into its territory. The scope of Israel’s operation remains unclear, but officials have said a ground invasion to push the militant group away from the border is a possibility. Israel has moved thousands of troops toward the border in preparation.

    Israel’s strikes this week have killed more than 720 people in Lebanon, including dozens of women and children, according to Health Ministry statistics.

    A predawn strike Friday in the mainly Sunni border town of Chebaa hit a home, killing nine members of the same family, the state news agency said. A resident identified the dead as Hussein Zahra, his wife Ratiba, their five children and two of their grandchildren.

    At the U.N., Netanyahu vowed to “continue degrading Hezbollah” until Israel achieves its goals. His comments dampened hopes for a U.S.-backed call for a 21-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah to allow time for a diplomatic solution. Hezbollah has not responded to the proposal.


    Netanyahu addresses United Nations as Israel continues targeting Hezbollah

    07:46

    Iranian-backed Hezbollah, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, saying it was a show of support for the Palestinians. Since then, it and the Israeli military have traded fire almost daily, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes on both sides of the border.

    An Israeli security official said he expects a possible war against Hezbollah would not last for as long as the current war in Gaza, because the Israeli military’s goals are much narrower.

    In Gaza, Israel aims to dismantle Hamas’ military and political regime, but the goal in Lebanon is to push Hezbollah away from the border with Israel — “not a high bar like Gaza” in terms of operational objectives, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to military briefing guidelines.

    The Israeli military said it carried out dozens of strikes around the south Friday, targeting Hezbollah rocket launchers and infrastructure. It said Hezbollah fired a volley of rockets toward the northern Israeli city of Tiberias.

    In the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, civil defense workers pulled the bodies of two women — 35-year-old Hiba Ataya and her mother Sabah Olyan — from the rubble of a building brought down by a strike.

    “That’s Sabah, these are her clothes, my love,” one man cried out as her body emerged.

    Israel says its accelerated strikes this week have already inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah’s weapons capabilities and its fighters. But the group boasted a large arsenal of rockets and missiles and its remaining capacities remain unknown.

    Hezbollah officials and their supporters remain defiant. Not long before the explosions Friday evening, thousands were massed in another part of Beirut’s suburbs for the funeral of three Hezbollah members killed in earlier strikes, including the head of the group’s drone unit, Mohammed Surour.

    Men and women in the giant crowd waved their fists in the air and chanted, “We will never accept humiliation” as they marched behind the three coffins, wrapped in the group’s yellow flag.

    Hussein Fadlallah, Hezbollah’s top official in Beirut, said in a speech that no matter how many commanders Israel kills, the group has endless numbers of experienced fighters who are deployed all over the front lines. Fadlallah vowed that Hezbollah will keep fighting until Israel stops its offensive in Gaza.

    “We will not abandon the support of Palestine, Jerusalem and oppressed Gaza,” Fadlallah said. “There is no place for neutrality in this battle.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Netanyahu to U.N. after rejecting new cease-fire proposal

    Netanyahu to U.N. after rejecting new cease-fire proposal

    [ad_1]

    Netanyahu to U.N. after rejecting new cease-fire proposal – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is addressing the United Nations General Assembly Friday after rejecting a cease-fire proposal offered by the U.S. and European officials, the Associated Press reports. CBS News’ Chris Livesay has more.

    Be the first to know

    Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.


    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Netanyahu says Israel’s striking Hezbollah with full force until goals are fulfilled

    Netanyahu says Israel’s striking Hezbollah with full force until goals are fulfilled

    [ad_1]

    Netanyahu says Israel’s striking Hezbollah with full force until goals are fulfilled – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel’s military will continue striking the Hezbollah militant group “with full force” until all goals are accomplished. Daniel De Simone with BBC News, a CBS News partner, has more.

    Be the first to know

    Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.


    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Israel launches deadly strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon, warns people in Beirut and elsewhere to evacuate

    Israel launches deadly strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon, warns people in Beirut and elsewhere to evacuate

    [ad_1]

    Missiles slammed into southern Lebanon, shattering the early-morning silence Monday and reportedly killing more than 490 people as Israel said it was targeting Hezbollah weapons hidden in residential buildings. The explosions came as Israel heralded a new wave of attacks on the Iran-backed group in Lebanon, warning civilians to flee from any buildings or areas where the organization had weapons or fighters positioned.

    Lebanon’s health ministry said the strikes killed 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, and wounded 1,645 people, The Associated Press reported. Monday marked the deadliest day of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah since 2006. The death toll also surpassed the deaths from the 2020 explosion at the Port of Beirut that killed nearly 200 people, injured thousands and devastated entire neighborhoods in the Lebanese capital.

    Israel’s military said at least 35 more rockets or drones were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel, many of which fell in open areas or were intercepted. Israeli media said at least one man was injured amid the barrage.

    Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon
    Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon September 23, 2024

    Aziz Taher/REUTERS


    The new crossfire came as Israel warned people in Lebanon — via automated phone calls, text messages and reportedly even Lebanese radio stations hacked into by its military — to avoid buildings used by Hezbollah. 

    The IDF shared images online of what it said were secondary explosions following some of its strikes Monday in southern Lebanon, showing, it said, “Hezbollah’s weapons exploding inside homes.” 

    “Every house that we strike contains weapons — rockets, missiles, UAVs — that are intended to kill Israeli civilians,” the IDF said. It said 300 separate Hezbollah targets were hit in its Monday morning airstrikes in Lebanon.

    President Joe Biden said on Monday that the U.S. was trying to calm the situation in Lebanon.

    “I’ve been briefed on the latest developments in Israel and Lebanon. My team is in constant contact with their counterparts, and we’re working to de-escalate in a way that allows people to return home safely,” Mr. Biden said as he held talks with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the White House.

    Meanwhile, the Pentagon said Monday the U.S. is sending additional troops to the Middle East. Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder would provide no details on how many additional forces or what they would be tasked to do. The U.S. currently has about 40,000 troops in the region.

    The new violence came after a weekend of increasingly deadly crossfire between the two bitter enemies in the heart of the Middle East. 

    Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets in one salvo Saturday night, sending them hurtling deeper into northern Israel and “toward civilian areas,” according to the Israeli military, wounding at least three people and spreading panic further into a region where many towns and villages have already been abandoned.

    In a video posted on social media, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Avichay Adraee said Monday morning that raids on homes and other buildings being used by Hezbollah to hide and launch weapons in Lebanon would “begin soon,” warning residents to follow orders from the Israeli army to evacuate.

    “The raids will begin soon. Evacuate the houses where #Hezbollah has hidden weapons immediately,” Adraee said in the video, speaking Arabic. “Hezbollah is lying to you and sacrificing you.”

    “We are deepening our attacks in Lebanon, the actions will continue until we achieve our goal to return the northern residents safely to their homes,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said in his own video message, warning his nation of “days ahead of us when the public will have to show composure.” 

    The warning to Israelis was likely a reference to expected retaliation from Hezbollah or Iran’s other so-called proxy groups in the region.

    Map of Middle East showing Iran-backed groups including the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon

    CBS News


    Lebanon’s state-run media said people in some parts of the capital Beirut and in southern areas of the country — both areas where Hezbollah has long enjoyed significant support — received automated phone messages warning them to evacuate. The French news agency AFP said someone in national Information Minister Ziad Makary’s office got one of the calls.

    The minister’s office told AFP that someone took a call on the office landline and heard a “recorded message” telling them to evacuate.

    The warnings about what appeared likely to be a significant intensification of Israel’s assault on Hezbollah came after a weekend of increased fire between the two sides over Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where the Iranian-backed group is a powerful political and military force.


    Hezbollah responds to Israeli strikes with rocket strikes deep into Israel

    02:18

    Hezbollah started launching rocket and drone attacks on Israel as soon as Israel launched its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip in response to that group’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are backed by Israel’s long-time arch rival Iran, and both have long been designated as terrorist groups by both the Israeli and U.S. governments.

    The IDF has stepped up strikes on purported Hezbollah targets across Lebanon for weeks, vowing to remove the threat they pose to enable the safe return of tens of thousands of residents from towns and villages in Israel’s northern border region who’ve been evacuated due to the cross-border fire.

    As Israel ramps up offensive operations against Hezbollah, it does so with wary U.S. support. The Biden administration has voiced concern for months about the tit-for-tat attacks by Israel and Hezbollah, simmering in parallel to the war in Gaza, escalating into a full-scale conflict. The concern is based largely on an assessment that a wider conflict in the Middle East will put U.S. troops increasingly in direct danger. Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria have already targeted U.S. forces in the region with deadly drone fire during the Gaza war.

    U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke on Saturday and Sunday with Gallant amid the increasing hostilities, and he “reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to Israel’s right to defend itself,” according to a readout of the first call from the Pentagon, but he also “stressed the importance of achieving a diplomatic solution” to the crisis and “his concern for the safety and security of U.S. citizens in the region.”

    According to the readout of the Sunday night phone call, Austin “made clear that the United States remains postured to protect U.S. forces and personnel and determined to deter any regional actors from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict.”

    The long-feared escalation in violence between Israel and Hezbollah — which is a far larger and far better equipped militant group than its ally Hamas — started snowballing last week with Israel’s officially-unclaimed covert operations to blow up thousands of pagers and walkie talkies carried by Hezbollah members in Lebanon. Those attacks killed about 40 people, including an unconfirmed number of Hezbollah figures and at least two children, according to Lebanese officials.

    Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah admitted the explosions were a “severe blow” to the group, and he accused Israel of not only violating “all red lines” with the attacks, but of a “declaration of war.”

    Israel hasn’t admitted to carrying out the complex attacks using rigged communications device, but CBS News learned that American officials were given a heads-up by Israel about 20 minutes before the operations began, though no specific details were shared about the methods to be used.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Tucker Reals

    Tucker Reals is CBSNews.com’s foreign editor, based in the CBS News London bureau. He has worked for CBS News since 2006, prior to which he worked for The Associated Press in Washington D.C. and London.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Middle East conflict edges closer to ‘open-ended battle’

    Middle East conflict edges closer to ‘open-ended battle’

    [ad_1]

    Escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is raising concerns of a broader conflict in the Middle East, with U.S. efforts to mediate a ceasefire in Gaza facing little to no progress.Overnight, Israel launched airstrikes in southern Lebanon, targeting what officials say were Hezbollah terrorists. The strikes come in response to over 100 rockets fired by Hezbollah over the weekend, following the death of one of its leaders and an attack through communications devices.One Hezbollah leader declared the attacks an “open-ended battle” as both sides spiral closer to an all-out war.”We did not want this war. We are not seeking war,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said. “Hezbollah’s been attacking us on a daily basis, demolishing Israeli villages and towns. Basically leading to the eviction of 100,000 Israelis from their homes. Life has been shattered in our northern border.””We will take whatever action is necessary to restore security and to bring our people safe back to their homes,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address. “No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities. We can’t accept it either.”Meanwhile, U.S. mediators have been working alongside international negotiators to secure a ceasefire deal in Gaza, but stalled progress and the escalating violence are threatening hope of bringing American hostages home.”We have not achieved any progress here in the last week to two weeks- not for lack of trying,” White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby, said. “We will certainly keep up those conversations as best we can. And we’re talking to both sides here.”President Joe Biden acknowledged the latest surge of violence and expressed concern of spreading conflict.”We’re going to do everything we can to keep from a wider war from breaking out,” he said.There are other concerns that the same type of attacks on explosive communications devices used in Lebanon could happen in the U.S. Experts believe Israel infiltrated the international supply chain and placed the rigged devices in imports headed to Lebanon. According to the Associated Press, the complex operation likely took months to pull off but little evidence has emerged so far.The White House did not comment on whether it is taking steps to protect the U.S. supply chain as a result, offering instead that Biden wants the supply chain to be largely self-sufficient, with most goods originating from within the U.S.Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to meet with leaders of the United Arab Emirates Monday before Biden travels to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

    WASHINGTON —

    Escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is raising concerns of a broader conflict in the Middle East, with U.S. efforts to mediate a ceasefire in Gaza facing little to no progress.

    Overnight, Israel launched airstrikes in southern Lebanon, targeting what officials say were Hezbollah terrorists. The strikes come in response to over 100 rockets fired by Hezbollah over the weekend, following the death of one of its leaders and an attack through communications devices.

    One Hezbollah leader declared the attacks an “open-ended battle” as both sides spiral closer to an all-out war.

    “We did not want this war. We are not seeking war,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said. “Hezbollah’s been attacking us on a daily basis, demolishing Israeli villages and towns. Basically leading to the eviction of 100,000 Israelis from their homes. Life has been shattered in our northern border.”

    “We will take whatever action is necessary to restore security and to bring our people safe back to their homes,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address. “No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities. We can’t accept it either.”

    Meanwhile, U.S. mediators have been working alongside international negotiators to secure a ceasefire deal in Gaza, but stalled progress and the escalating violence are threatening hope of bringing American hostages home.

    “We have not achieved any progress here in the last week to two weeks- not for lack of trying,” White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby, said. “We will certainly keep up those conversations as best we can. And we’re talking to both sides here.”

    President Joe Biden acknowledged the latest surge of violence and expressed concern of spreading conflict.

    “We’re going to do everything we can to keep from a wider war from breaking out,” he said.

    There are other concerns that the same type of attacks on explosive communications devices used in Lebanon could happen in the U.S. Experts believe Israel infiltrated the international supply chain and placed the rigged devices in imports headed to Lebanon. According to the Associated Press, the complex operation likely took months to pull off but little evidence has emerged so far.

    The White House did not comment on whether it is taking steps to protect the U.S. supply chain as a result, offering instead that Biden wants the supply chain to be largely self-sufficient, with most goods originating from within the U.S.

    Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to meet with leaders of the United Arab Emirates Monday before Biden travels to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • 9/21: Saturday Morning

    9/21: Saturday Morning

    [ad_1]

    9/21: Saturday Morning – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    Israeli airstrike in Beirut kills senior Hezbollah commander; How starry friends are helping an East Village musician get back on his feet

    Be the first to know

    Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.


    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Israel, Hezbollah exchange border fire one day after Beirut attack

    Israel, Hezbollah exchange border fire one day after Beirut attack

    [ad_1]

    Israel, Hezbollah exchange border fire one day after Beirut attack – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    A day after an Israeli strike on Beirut killed several dozen people, including a top Hezbollah leader, Israel and Hezbollah on Saturday continued to trade strikes. Chris Livesay has the latest.

    Be the first to know

    Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.


    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Israel conducts

    Israel conducts

    [ad_1]

    Beirut, Lebanon — The Israeli military said it carried out a “targeted strike” in Beirut on Friday, as social media video showed smoke rising from the site of an attack in the Lebanese capital.

    “At this moment, there are no changes in the Home Front Command defensive guidelines,” the Israel Defence Forces said in a statement.

    Lebanese health officials said at least 8 people were killed and 59 people were wounded in the strike. The IDF said it had “eliminated” Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil.

    “During the strike, senior operatives in Hezbollah’s Operations Staff and commanders from the Radwan Unit were eliminated alongside Aqil,” the IDF said in a statement, claiming the killed Hezbollah operatives, including Aqil, had been planning an attack on Israel “in which Hezbollah intended to infiltrate Israeli communities and murder innocent civilians.”

    The United States had previously offered a “reward of up to $7 million for information leading to the identification, location, arrest, and/or conviction,” of Aqil, who it said was a leader of Hezbollah in the 1980s, when the group claimed responsibility for the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.

    The White House earlier warned both Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group against “escalation of any kind” following this week’s synchronized pager and walkie talkie explosions targeting Hezbollah members, but overnight, Israeli warplanes carried out dozens of strikes across southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah has continued firing back.

    An Israeli fighter jet takes off at an unidentified location to conduct strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon
    An Israeli fighter jet takes off from an unidentified location to conduct strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo released Sept. 19, 2024 by the Israel Defense Forces.

    Israel Defense Forces/Handout/REUTERS


    There were loud explosions and fires ignited by what the IDF said were strikes targeting hundreds of active Hezbollah rocket launchers in Lebanon early Friday. Hezbollah struck northern Israel again in a counterattack, killing at least two soldiers, according to Israeli officials.

    The deadly escalation in violence followed a televised address from a weary-looking Hassan Nasrallah — the leader of Hezbollah — who admitted this week’s pager and walkie talkie explosions had delivered a “severe blow” to the powerful group, which like Hamas has long been designated a terrorist group by Israel and the U.S.

    Nasrallah accused Israel of not only violating “all red lines” with the explosions but of a “declaration of war.”

    Israel has not publicly claimed the complex communications device attacks, but CBS News learned that American officials were given a heads-up by Israel about 20 minutes before the operations began in Lebanon on Tuesday. There were no specific details shared about the methods to be used.

    For two terrifying days in Lebanon, thousands of low-tech communications devices — many used by Hezbollah members — exploded simultaneously across the country, wounding over 3,000 people and killing at least 37, including children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.


    Hezbollah leader links Israel to Lebanon device explosions, calls them act of war

    05:59

    In his address, Nasrallah vowed that Israel would not achieve its goal of enabling the return of tens of thousands of people displaced from their homes in northern border towns. Even as he spoke on Thursday, however, sonic booms echoed above Beirut as Israeli fighter jets roared over the city, flexing Israel’s military might.

    But as the U.S. warning Thursday indicated, the next moves — be they further retaliation from Hezbollah or ground operations by the IDF against the group — could have major consequences.

    “Ultimately, if they [Israel] do invade, they would have to occupy” southern Lebanon, regional analyst Makram Rabah told CBS News. “This would lead to a kind of a slow, depleting war for Israel, and this would, more importantly, legitimize Hezbollah.”

    But hundreds of Hezbollah fighters were likely injured by the explosives attacks, which almost certainly left the group’s communications networks in complete disarray. And despite warnings from Israel’s defense chief of “a new phase” in the country’s war with Iran’s so-called proxy groups, and one IDF division already being transferred there from Gaza, there’s also been no major Israeli build-up of forces or hardware along the Lebanon border seen yet.

    Omar Abdulkader

    contributed to this report.

    Imtiaz Tyab


    headshot-600-imtiaz-tyab.jpg

    Imtiaz Tyab is a CBS News correspondent based in London and reports for all platforms, including the “CBS Evening News,” “CBS Mornings,” “CBS Sunday Morning” and CBS News 24/7. He has extensive experience reporting from major global flashpoints, including the Middle East and the war on terror.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • The Hunt: Why are Hezbollah’s pagers exploding? – WTOP News

    The Hunt: Why are Hezbollah’s pagers exploding? – WTOP News

    [ad_1]

    Hundreds of Hezbollah members were wounded after pagers they used exploded simultaneously on Tuesday in Lebanon. The militant group blamed the potentially-compromised devices on Israel for the deadly explosions that killed 12.

    Hundreds of Hezbollah members were wounded after pagers they used exploded simultaneously on Tuesday in Lebanon. The militant group blamed the potentially-compromised devices on Israel for the deadly explosions that killed 12.

    On this week’s edition of “The Hunt with WTOP national security correspondent J.J. Green,” former CIA undercover operative Robert Baer explains why it’s likely happening — and who may be behind it.

    Former CIA undercover operative Robert Baer explains the exploding pagers

    SIGN UP TODAY for J.J. Green’s new national security newsletter, “Inside the SCIF.” The weekly email delivers unique insight into the intelligence, national security, military, law enforcement and foreign policy communities.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Israel intensifies air raids on southern Lebanon amid escalation fears

    Israel intensifies air raids on southern Lebanon amid escalation fears

    [ad_1]

    Israeli defence minister says Hezbollah to ‘pay an increasing price’ as group promises retaliation over device attacks.

    Israel has intensified attacks on southern Lebanon, launching dozens of air raids amid fears of a wider escalation in the region.

    Israeli warplanes targeted the towns of Mahmoudieh, Ksar al-Aroush and Birket Jabbour in the Jezzine area on Thursday, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

    Three unnamed Lebanese security sources told the news agency Reuters it was some of the most intense bombing since the start of the war in Gaza in October when Israel and the Iran-backed group Hezbollah started trading cross-border fire.

    The Israeli military said its air force struck approximately 100 rocket-launchers, as well as other infrastructure. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.

    In a Thursday briefing, the Israeli defence minister said Hezbollah would “pay an increasing price” as Israel seeks to make conditions near its border with Lebanon safe enough for residents who have fled the cross-border attacks to return.

    “The sequence of our military actions will continue,” Yoav Gallant said.

    In a speech earlier on Thursday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the pager and walkie-talkie attacks against its members in Lebanon and Syria this week crossed “all red lines” and the group would retaliate.

    In recent weeks, Israeli leaders have stepped up warnings of a potential larger military operation against Hezbollah, saying they are determined to stop the group’s fire to allow tens of thousands of Israelis to return to homes near the border.

    In his first speech since the device attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday, Nasrallah acknowledged that Hezbollah had suffered an “unprecedented” blow from the blasts, which killed 37 people and wounded nearly 3,000 over two days. Nasrallah said Hezbollah would continue operations against Israel “until the aggression on Gaza stops”.

    Hamas said it “highly appreciates” Hezbollah’s support and Nasrallah’s stance frustrated Israel’s “plans to undermine the support front of our people and resistance in the Gaza Strip”.

    Israel has not commented on the device explosions.

    White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas would “lower the temperature” in the region but also said the US was “unwavering” against any Iran-backed threats.

    A preliminary investigation by the Lebanese authorities found the devices were implanted with explosives before arriving in the country, according to a letter by the Lebanese mission to the United Nations that was seen by Reuters.

    The authorities also determined the devices, which included pagers and handheld radios, were detonated via electronic messages, according to the letter sent to the UN Security Council.

    Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in a mostly low-level conflict since Israel launched an assault on Gaza on October 7, which has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians.

    In late July, Israel killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut, and hours later, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran, triggering fears of an escalation.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • More deadly device explosions reported in Lebanon day after Hezbollah pagers explode

    More deadly device explosions reported in Lebanon day after Hezbollah pagers explode

    [ad_1]

    Beirut, Lebanon — A source close to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group told the French news agency AFP that walkie talkies used by group members exploded in its Beirut stronghold Wednesday, with state media reporting similar blasts of pagers and “devices” in east and south Lebanon. The Reuters news agency cited Lebanon’s Health Ministry as saying at least nine people were killed and more than 300 wounded by the blasts.

    The explosions came a day after thousands of pagers carried by Hezbollah members exploded nearly simultaneously, killing at least 12 people including two children, according to Lebanon’s public health minister. The apparently complex attacks come after weeks of rising tension between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which have exchanged fire across Israel’s northern border since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.

    At least one explosion struck Wednesday near a funeral being held by Hezbollah for some of the people killed the previous day by the pager blasts. A Reuters reporter in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah, said he saw people from families with Hezbollah members quickly removing batteries from walkie talkies that hadn’t exploded and discarding the devices.

    lebanon-explosion-mobile-shop.jpg
    Emergency responders are seen as smoke rises from a cell phone store after an explosion in Sidon, southern Lebanon, Sept. 18, 2024.

    Reuters


    Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency also said pagers and devices had also exploded in Hezbollah strongholds in the east and south, with AFP correspondents also reporting explosions.

    Israeli defense chief says war in “a new phase”

    Israeli officials have issued no public comments on the blasts in Lebanon, but a U.S. official told the AP on Tuesday that Israeli authorities had briefed American officials on the operation after Tuesday’s pager explosions. Lebanese officials and Hezbollah quickly blamed Israel for the widespread attack on Tuesday, and Iranian-backed Hezbollah has vowed to take revenge. 

    A spokesman for the U.S. military and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have said the U.S. had no prior knowledge of any plans to detonate communications devices in Lebanon and no role in the operation.

    Addressing soldiers Wednesday in Israel, the country’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant didn’t mention the explosions in Lebanon, but praised the work of Israel’s military and security agencies, calling the results of their actions “very impressive.”

    He said after 11 months of war in the Gaza Strip against Hamas, “the center of gravity is shifting to the north by diverting resources and forces.”

    “We are at the start of a new phase in the war,” he said, adding that it, “requires courage, determination and perseverance.”

    How did the pagers explode in Lebanon?

    Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday that it had authorized the use of its trademarked branding on the pagers that exploded Tuesday, but it said the devices carried by Hezbollah members were manufactured and sold by Bac Consulting KFT — a company based in Budapest, Hungary.

    Gold Apollo founder and CEO Hsu Ching-kuang told NPR Wednesday that “there was nothing in those devices that we had manufactured or exported to them [BAC].”

    CBS News has asked Bac Consulting where and how its devices are manufactured and sold, but has not received any reply either over the phone or via email.

    Responding to CBS News in a text message, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s spokesperson Zoltán Kovács said the Hungarian leader’s office had “no knowledge/info on the matter.” 

    In a social media post later Wednesday, Kovács described Bac Consulting as “a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary,” adding that the company “has one manager registered at its declared address, and the referenced devices have never been in Hungary.”


    Hezbollah vows revenge after exploding pagers kill at least 12, injure thousands in Lebanon

    02:58

    It remains unclear exactly how many pagers blew up on Tuesday, but a senior Lebanese security official and another source told the Reuters news agency that Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency had planted a small amount of explosives inside 5,000 devices, which it said were ordered by Hezbollah just months before the blasts.

    The AP and the New York Times, citing unnamed U.S. officials, also said the pagers detonated Tuesday had small amounts of explosives inside them, along with embedded switches that could be detonated remotely. 

    The Times said the devices carried as little as one to two ounces of explosives, embedded next to their batteries. Citing Lebanese officials, the newspaper said the affected pagers received a message at 3:30 p.m. local time that appeared to have come from Hezbollah leadership, but which activated the explosives.

    This breaking news story will be updated.

    Emmet Lyons and

    Tucker Reals

    contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Source link