At least eight people were killed and 59 others were injured in an Israeli strike in southern Beirut on Friday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, as tensions continue to rise between Israel and Hezbollah.
Search and rescue operations are now underway after the Israel Defense Forces struck two residential buildings in the Jamous area in the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to the Lebanese Civil Defense.
The target of the strike in southern Beirut was Ibrahim Aqil, according to two Israeli sources. They could not say specifically whether he was killed or injured.
People gather near a damaged building at the scene of an Israeli missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024.
Bilal Hussein/AP
Aqil, also known as Tahsin, serves on Hezbollah’s highest military body and was a principal member of Islamic Jihad Organization, which claimed responsibility for the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut that killed 63 people, according to the U.S. Department of State.
In 2023, the U.S. announced an award of up to $7 million for any information leading to the “identification, location, arrest, and/or conviction of Hizballah key leader Ibrahim Aqil,” according to the U.S. Award for Justice program. Aqil also directed the taking of American and German hostages in Lebanon and held them there in the 1980s.
About 120 rockets were fired toward Israel by midday on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces told ABC News. Israel on Thursday struck more than 100 Hezbollah targets within Lebanon, the military said.
People stand on top of a damaged car at the scene of a missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024.
Bilal Hussein/AP
The IDF said in a statement it struck a terrorist in Kfarkela earlier Friday, but did not say who was targeted or whether the individual was killed, saying in a statement, “Earlier today, IDF soldiers identified a Hezbollah terrorist entering a terrorist infrastructure site used by Hezbollah in the area of Kfarkela in southern Lebanon. Swiftly, the IAF struck the site from which the terrorist was operating.”
The targeted strike in Beirut came in response to scores of rockets launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel on Friday. The IDF said it also struck Hezbollah targets in several other cities in southern Lebanon.
Officials with the U.S. and other international leaders urged Hezbollah and Israel to seek diplomatic paths to de-escalate the conflict.
U.S. officials have this week privately urged their Israeli counterparts to find a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday. He added that U.S. was committed to the defense of Israel from all terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies.
People gather at the scene of an Israeli missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024.
Bilal Hussein/AP
“We will continue to stand by Israel’s right to defend itself,” Miller said during a press briefing Thursday. “But we don’t want to see any party escalate this conflict, period.”
Miller and other U.S. officials joined a chorus of international officials who were also asking Israel and Hezbollah to step back from a conflict that’s at risk of spreading and increasing in intensity. Israel and Hezbollah have for most of the last 11 months fired a near-daily volley of projectiles across the border.
Those strikes appeared on Thursday to take on a new urgency, as Israel launched a series of strikes on Hezbollah targets within Lebanon. The strikes were among the largest in almost a year. And they followed an attack with explosives hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies in both Lebanon and Syria, a deadly surprise attack that Israel was behind, according to a source.
A spokesperson for the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon told Reuters on Friday the agency was also calling for de-escalation after seeing this week “a heavy intensification of the hostilities across the Blue Line,” a reference to the border between Israel and Lebanon.
Israeli soldiers carry the flag-draped coffin of reservist Major Nael Fwarsy, 43, killed a day earlier near Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, during his funeral in he northern village of Maghar on Sept. 20, 2024.
Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on Lebanon’s southern village of Kfar Kila on September 20, 2024.
Rabih Daher/AFP via Getty Images
European leaders had on Thursday made similar pleas. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy both called for de-escalation in the Middle East in separate public statements.
Macron posted a message in French on social media addressing the Lebanese people, saying they cannot live in fear of an imminent war and conflict must be avoided.
Lammy said he met with his American, French, German and Italian counterparts Thursday and all four of them agreed that “we want to see a negotiated political settlement” between Israel and the Lebanon-based militant group.
“We are all very, very clear that we want to see a negotiated political settlement so that Israelis can return to their homes in northern Israel and indeed, Lebanese can return to their homes,” Lammy told reporters Thursday.
He added, “And that’s why tonight I’m calling for an immediate cease-fire from both sides so that we can get to that settlement, that political settlement that’s required
ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Dana Savir and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
Israel has reportedly carried out a targeted strike on a high-ranking Hezbollah figure in Beirut, according to sources. The attack, which took place in the Lebanese capital, is said to have targeted a senior member of the Iran-backed militant group, which is considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States.
Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist political party and militant group based in Lebanon, has been a long-standing adversary of Israel. The two have engaged in multiple conflicts over the years, with Hezbollah launching attacks on Israeli territory and Israel responding with military strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
The reported strike comes at a time of heightened tensions in the region, with Israel and Hezbollah engaged in a war of words and occasional skirmishes along the border. The Israeli government has repeatedly warned that it will not tolerate any threats from Hezbollah or its allies, and has vowed to take action to prevent the group from acquiring advanced weapons or establishing a presence near its borders.
The targeted strike on the high-ranking Hezbollah figure is seen as a significant escalation in the conflict between Israel and the militant group. It is likely to provoke a strong response from Hezbollah, which has vowed to retaliate against any Israeli aggression.
The incident also raises concerns about the potential for further escalation in the region, with fears that the conflict could spiral into a wider conflict involving other regional players. The United Nations and other international organizations have called for restraint and urged both sides to avoid actions that could lead to further violence and instability.
The reported strike on the high-ranking Hezbollah figure underscores the complex and volatile nature of the Middle East, where longstanding rivalries and conflicts continue to simmer beneath the surface. It serves as a reminder of the ongoing challenges facing the region and the need for diplomatic efforts to resolve disputes and prevent further bloodshed.
