BEIRUT (AP) — The Israeli military said Friday it struck the central headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut, where a series of massive explosions leveled multiple buildings and sent clouds of orange and black smoke billowing in the skies 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.
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. 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 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. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s office said he was huddled with the head of Israel’s air force and other top commanders at military headquarters, following updates.
Israeli army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the strikes targeted the main Hezbollah headquarters, located beneath residential buildings. Six buildings in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Dahiyeh were reduced to rubble, according to Lebanon’s national news agency. The blast rattled windows and shook houses some 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Beirut. Ambulances were seen headed to the scene, sirens wailing.
Officials at a nearby hospital said they received at least 10 wounded, three critically, including a Syrian child.
The Pentagon said Friday the U.S. had no advance warning of the heavy strikes in Beirut.
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.
At least 25 people were killed in Israeli strikes early Friday, Health Minister Firass Abiad said, bringing the death toll in Lebanon this week to more than 720. He said the dead included dozens of women and children.
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.
Netanyahu’s comments have damped 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.
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 has vowed to dismantle Hamas’ military and political regime, but the goal in Lebanon is just 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 over the course of two hours around the south on Friday, including in the cities of Sidon and Nabatiyeh. It said it was 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 a string of its top commanders have been assassinated in strikes. Officials have suggested its limited fire of missile and rockets the past week show it has been set back.
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 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.”
