Israel carries out ‘targeted attack’ in Beirut after being hit by 140 Hezbollah rockets

BEIRUT — Israel hit a Beirut suburb with an airstrike on Friday, shortly after Hezbollah bombarded northern Israel with 140 rockets after the militant group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, vowed retaliation for a mass bombardment on Israel, the Israeli military and the militant group said.

The Israeli military said it had carried out a “targeted attack” in Beirut. No further immediate details were given, but explosions were heard in the city's southern suburbs.

Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen television reported that a drone fired several missiles at the densely populated Dahiyeh area.

A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, confirmed to The Associated Press that the area had been hit by an airstrike but did not provide further details.

The attack came after Hezbollah fired 140 rockets at Israel. The rockets were fired in three waves at targets along the devastated border with Lebanon, according to the Israeli military.

Following the attacks, the Israeli military said it had attacked areas in southern Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, but did not provide details of the damage.

Hezbollah said its attacks targeted several targets along the border with Katyusha rockets, including several air defense bases and the headquarters of an Israeli tank brigade, which it said was the first time it had hit them.

The Israeli military said 120 rockets were fired at the Golan Heights, Safed and Upper Galilee, some of which were intercepted. Firefighters were putting out fires caused by debris that fell to the ground in several areas, the military said.

The military did not provide any information on whether missiles had hit targets or caused casualties.

Another 20 rockets were fired at the Meron and Netua areas, most of them falling in open areas, the military said. No injuries were reported.

Hezbollah said the rockets were in retaliation for Israeli attacks on villages and homes in southern Lebanon, not for two days of sustained attacks widely blamed on Israel that detonated explosive devices in thousands of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies.

On Thursday, Israel said its military had hit “hundreds of rocket launcher barrels” in southern Lebanon and that they were “ready to be deployed and fire at Israeli territory in the near future.”

The army also urged residents of parts of the Golan Heights and northern Israel to avoid public gatherings, keep their movements to a minimum and stay near shelters to protect themselves from the rocket fire that finally came on Friday.

Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire almost daily since October 8, the day after the opening salvo of the war between Israel and Hamas, but Friday's rocket fire was more intense than usual.

On Thursday, Nasrallah announced he would continue daily attacks on Israel, despite the deadly sabotage of his members' communications equipment this week, which he called a “serious blow.”

At least 20 people were killed and thousands injured in attacks in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday when pagers, walkie-talkies and other devices exploded.

The sophisticated attacks have heightened fears that the cross-border exchanges of fire could escalate into an all-out war. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the attacks.

In recent days, Israel has deployed a powerful military force to its northern border, the rhetoric of Israeli politicians has intensified, and the Israeli security cabinet has declared the return of tens of thousands of displaced people to their homes in northern Israel an official war aim.

Fighting in the Gaza Strip has subsided, but the number of casualties continues to rise.

Overnight, Palestinian authorities said 15 people had been killed in several Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.

Among them were six people, including an unknown number of children, who were hit by an airstrike on a family home in Gaza City early Friday morning, Gaza Civil Defense said. Another person was killed in Gaza City when an attack hit a group of people on a street.

Israel claims it is only targeting militant terrorists and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians through their operations in residential areas. The military, which rarely comments on individual attacks, had no immediate comment.

According to Gaza's Health Ministry, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since the Hamas attack on October 7. The ministry makes no distinction between fighters and civilians in its count, but says that just over half of those killed were women and children.

Israel claims to have killed more than 17,000 militants, but provides no evidence.

Since October 7, more than 95,000 people have been injured in Gaza, the Health Ministry said.

The war has caused enormous destruction and forced around 90 percent of the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million inhabitants to flee.

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