SourceTue, 30 Jul 2024 18:03 UTC
© AP Photo/Hussein MallaA general view shows a damaged building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, July 30, 2024
The IDF has confirmed a targeted attack on a Hezbollah commander
A building in Beirut, Lebanon has been destroyed in what Israel said was a targeted attack on a Hezbollah commander. The strike has raised concerns of a wider war in the region.Lebanese media reported the explosion in the Beirut neighborhood of Haret Hreik on Tuesday evening, while Israeli outlets identified the targeted area as Dahieh. It was unclear whether airplanes or drones were involved.
At least two people have died and 20 were injured in the strike, including children, according to a RT Arabic correspondent.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
confirmed the strike and said it targeted the Hezbollah commander responsible for Saturday's attack on a village in the Golan Heights "and the killing of numerous additional Israeli civilians."
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that by striking the village of Majdal Shams, Hezbollah had "crossed the red line," echoing recent comments by Foreign Minister Israel Katz.Twelve people died in the Druze village of Majdal Shams on Saturday, most of them children, when a rocket hit a football pitch. The IDF blamed Hezbollah, which denied responsibility. The Shia militant group has said that it would respond to any Israeli strike.
Israeli media outlets have named the target as Fuad Shukr, alias Hajj Mohsin, describing him as a "senior advisor" to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, commander of the group's precision missile project, and someone wanted by the US for his role in the 1983 role in the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut.
Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged rocket and drone fire for months, forcing the evacuation of almost 200,000 residents on both sides of the border.
West Jerusalem has threatened a military operation against Hezbollah for months, even as it continued the offensive against Hamas in Gaza. President Isaac Herzog said in early June that Hezbollah's "terrorist aggression must be stopped" and that the world should not be surprised when Israel acts.
Comment: It is becoming difficult to go back to normal. See also:
1) Best of the Web:
'Major escalation': Israel bombs densely populated area of Beirut, Hezbollah says commander survived the attack
* Best of the Web:
Israel, determined to start regional war, assassinates Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran2) From the same source:
28 Jul, 2024 08:20
Moscow reacts to Israel-Hezbollah escalation
Terrorist attacks are unacceptable no matter who carries them out, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said
Russia condemns terrorism conducted by any entity, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, reacting to a new escalation on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Israel accused Lebanon-based Islamist group Hezbollah on Saturday of launching a rocket tha landed on a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, which killed at least 12 teenagers and children, mostly of Syrian Druze origin, and wounded about 20 others. The group has denied involvement in the attack.
An earlier Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon reportedly killed three Hezbollah members.
Commenting on the latest escalation across the border, Lavrov told reporters on Sunday that Russia "condemns all terrorist actions by any entity," recalling that Moscow equally condemned the October 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians and Israel's retaliation, which he said was a "flagrant violation of international humanitarian law" because it amounted to "collective punishment of the people."
The strategically important Golan Heights were seized from Syria in the 1967 Six Day war and later unilaterally annexed by Israel - a move that is still not recognized by most of the international community.
In response to the soccer field attack, the Israel Defense Forces said it had conducted strikes on "a series of Hezbollah terror targets... both deep inside Lebanese territory and in southern Lebanon."
[...]
An unnamed US official told CBS News that the recent escalation was "almost all-out war." Other sources told the outlet that it was a "nightmare scenario" feared by the White House, which was attempting to de-escalate the crisis and contain the fallout.
Netanyahu goes to Wa(r)shington, and shortly after the situation somehow intensifies. What to say?
3) See also the comment to this article:
NATO states tell citizens to leave Lebanon, which has this added comment:
Update about the missile that hit Majdal Shams: Al Mayadeen English carried an article on 28 Jul 2024 23:47 by Ali Halawi:
Did an Israeli Iron Dome missile cause the Majdal Shams massacre?
Skipping the details, the article ends:
A Tamir missile launched from a nearby position is likely to contain a substantial amount of fuel, as the air defense rocket was designed to fly for around 70 km. This means that the majority of the fuel meant for the missile's flight after take-off detonated and produced the fireball seen in the video.
Despite Israeli assertions of a Hezbollah attack using a Falaq-1 rocket, substantial analysis points towards a malfunctioning Israeli Tamir interceptor missile as the more plausible cause of the explosion. The discrepancies in crater size, the nature of the explosion, and Hezbollah's historical targeting patterns all support this alternative explanation. The true story behind the Majdal Shams explosion remains shrouded, but the evidence presented here offers a compelling case for reconsidering the initial narrative.
Best guess is Israel had good intel on the location of a Hezbollah commander and used this as an excuse to take him out. They simply do not care how many civilians are killed or wounded by such operations.
So far Hezbollah and Iran have been unwilling to respond at the same level. Probably because they don't want to kill civilians, and also because they know that if/when they do so respond "Israel" will escalate yet again.