BEIRUT (AP) — The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut on Friday in a series of massive explosions that targeted the leader of the militant group and leveled multiple high-rise apartment buildings. The biggest blast to hit the Lebanese capital in the past year appeared likely to push the escalating conflict closer to full-fledged war. At least six people were killed and 91 were wounded, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the strikes on the group’s headquarters, according to two people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity, including one U.S. official. The Israeli army declined to comment on who it was targeting. It was not immediately clear if Nasrallah was at the site, and Hezbollah did not comment on the report.
The death toll is likely to rise significantly as teams are still combing through the rubble of six buildings.
After the strikes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly cut short a visit to the United States to return home. Hours earlier, he addressed the U.N., vowing that Israel’s intensified campaign against Hezbollah over the past two weeks would continue — further dimming hopes for an internationally backed cease-fire.
News of the blasts came as Netanyahu was briefing reporters after his U.N. address. A military aide whispered into his ear, and Netanyahu quickly ended the briefing.
Israeli army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the strikes targeted the main Hezbollah headquarters, saying it was located underground beneath residential buildings.
The series of blasts at around nightfall reduced six apartment towers to rubble in Haret Hreik, a densely populated, predominantly Shiite district of Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburbs, according to Lebanon’s national news agency. A wall of billowing black and orange smoke rose into the sky as windows were rattled and houses shaken some 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Beirut.
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Beirut, seen from Baabda, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo)
via Associated Press
Smoke rises from the smouldering rubble as people gather at the scene of Israeli air strikes in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood of Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 27, 2024. (Photo by IBRAHIM AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)
IBRAHIM AMRO via Getty Images
Footage showed rescue workers clambering over large slabs of concrete, surrounded by high piles of twisted metal and wreckage. Several craters were visible, one with a car toppled into it. A stream of residents carrying their belongings were seen fleeing along a main road out of the district.
Israel provided no immediate comment about the type of bomb or how many it used but the resulting explosion levelled an area greater than a city block. The Israeli army has in its arsenal 2,000 pound American-made “Bunker Buster” guided bombs designed specifically for hitting subterranean targets.
Richard Weir, crisis and weapons researcher with Human Rights Watch, said the blasts were consistent with that class of bomb.