Saturday 21 / December / 2024
Beirut: Israeli strikes hit close to Beirut's international airport
At least one Israeli strike early on Friday hit outside the perimeter of Beirut's international airport, Reuters news agency reported, citing a source in the Lebanese Ministry of Transport and Public Works.
Earlier in the evening, a source close to Hezbollah told AFP an Israeli strike had targeted a warehouse next to Beirut airport, in the capital's south.
The extent of the damage was not immediately clear.
Israel also launched renewed strikes on Beirut's southern suburb of Dahiyeh, a stronghold of the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, near midnight on Thursday.
The air raids targeted Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, rumored successor to assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, report Axios and the New York Times.
Safieddine's fate was not clear, he said.
Israel's military has not yet commented on whether it targeted Safieddine.
Israel orders new Lebanon evacuations
Israel's military has ordered residents of more than 20 towns in southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes as it continued with a cross-border incursion.
The latest warnings took the number of southern towns subject to evacuation calls to 70.
Among the towns affected is the provincial capital Nabatieh as well as other communities north of the Litani River, which formed the northern edge of the border zone established by the UN Security Council after Israel and Hezbollah fought a war in 2006.
The announcement suggests the Israeli military may widen a ground operation launched earlier this week against the militant group.
