The Israeli Air Force carried out massive targeted airstrikes in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Friday evening, with the military saying it had struck Hezbollah’s main headquarters.
The attack shook the Lebanese capital and sent thick clouds of smoke over the city. There were reports of many casualties in the multiple strikes.
Unconfirmed Hebrew media reports said Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was targeted, leading to widespread speculation and conflicting reports as to his fate. The New York Times quotedmultiple Israeli and US officials saying Nasrallah was targeted.
A source close to Hezbollah said the Israeli strikes flattened six buildings. It was the heaviest attack in Beirut in almost a year of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
A Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah’s top officials are usually gathered at the site that was targeted.
Underlining the extraordinary nature of the strike, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari gave an on-camera statement minutes after the strike. Hagari said the main command center was built underneath civilian buildings in the Dahiyeh suburb, a known Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut.
He did not mention whether Nasrallah was a target or was believed to be present at the site.
Footage from Beirut showed extensive destruction at the site.
He said there were no changes to guidelines for Israeli civilians at this time.
Israel has eliminated much of the Hezbollah terror group’s most senior leadership in recent weeks.
Leading Israeli television networks reported that Nasrallah was the target of the strikes, and that the attack had involved bombs totaling tens of tons of explosives.
Unnamed sources told multiple Israeli media outlets that Israel was checking if Nasrallah was at the headquarters when it was struck.
Sources close to Hezbollah told AFP and Reuters Nasrallah was alive, while Reuters cited an Iranian security official saying Tehran was checking his status.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left in the middle of a briefing with Israeli reporters after his speech at the United Nations as news emerged of the strike. Netanyahu’s military secretary whispered something in his ear, before he cut the briefing short and left with his advisors.
The prime minister later announced he would cut short his visit to the United States and would depart for Israel at 3 a.m. (Israel time).
His office released a photograph that it said showed him approving the strike from his New York hotel room, evidently before he addressed the UN.
A US official told The Times of Israel that Israel notified the US about the airstrike after planes were already in the air and the operation was in motion.
A Pentagon spokesperson, by contrast, said the US did not have advance warning and that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant as the operation was ongoing. “The United States was not involved in this operation and we had no advance warning,” spokesperson Sabrina Singh said.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalated sharply this week, with Israeli airstrikes on the terror group killing more than 700 people in Lebanon. The figure does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Israel says many of the dead are Hezbollah fighters.
The escalation has raised fears of an even more destructive conflict between the heavily armed adversaries.
Speaking the UN General Assembly shortly before the strike, Netanyahu said: “As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice, and Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their homes safely.
“Israel has been tolerating this intolerable situation for nearly a year. Well, I’ve come here today to say enough is enough,” he said.
Preparations for ground offensive
Earlier Friday, the Israeli military said ahead of a potential ground offensive against Hezbollah that it had “great confidence” in the army’s ability to carry out a ground maneuver, following experience gained by troops during the past 11 months of fighting in the Gaza Strip.
The IDF indicated that a ground offensive in Lebanon had been fully planned out, and it was being practiced by troops while the fighting was ongoing on several fronts.
The plans included operations in areas near the border as well as deep within Lebanon, according to the military. Still, the IDF aims for such a ground operation to be as short as possible, officials have said.
The IDF also revealed on Friday that on three separate occasions amid the war it was ready to ramp up its offensive actions against Hezbollah, in an operation now known as Northern Arrows which was launched on Monday with nearly 2,000 munitions dropped by the Israeli Air Force on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon within 24 hours — the most extensive operation carried out by the IAF.
The airstrikes, according to the military, have taken away many of Hezbollah’s rocket, missile, and drone capabilities that it had built up for 20 years, which in turn have now prevented harm to the Israeli home front.
Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets at Israel since the fighting escalated, causing several injuries and damage to several towns, but far less extensive than initially anticipated.
The IDF in previous years assessed that Hezbollah would potentially be able to launch thousands of rockets per day at the country during a full-scale war, causing hundreds of casualties. But in the past 11 months of fighting on the northern border, Hezbollah’s capabilities were slowly “peeled” away, according to the military.
In the past 10 days, since diverting its focus to Lebanon, the IDF said that it has made significant achievements, including killing top Hezbollah commanders, eliminating the leadership of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, and striking thousands of sites where Hezbollah stored arms.
But the IDF stressed on Friday that “there is still more work to be done, and we cannot stop here.”
There had been plans for a 21-day ceasefire intended to pave the way for a permanent cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah and help advance an end to the war in Gaza, which was jointly announced by US President Joe Biden and French President Emanuel Macron on Thursday while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was en route to New York to address the UN General Assembly on Friday.
While still in the air, however, Netanyahu’s office issued a firm denial that he had assented to the idea, calling it an “American-French proposal that the prime minister didn’t even respond to.”
Following the assassination of the head of Hezbollah’s aerial forces, Mohammed Srur, on Thursday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi also said the military must continue to strike the terror group.
“We need to continue attacking Hezbollah. We have been waiting for this opportunity for years,” Halevi said following an assessment, in remarks provided by the IDF, hinting that the military was against a ceasefire at this stage.
To return the tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to their homes in northern Israel, the IDF has set out a goal of damaging Hezbollah’s command and control, destroying its capabilities in the border area, and removing the threat of an invasion planned by the Radwan Force.
Once the fighting is over, the IDF said that it would need to enforce any ceasefire agreement with firepower and prevent Hezbollah from re-establishing itself close to Israeli border communities.
Also on Friday, the IDF said it had completed the mobilization of two reserve brigades — the Etzioni and Alon brigades — that were sent to northern Israel to bolster troops there, amid the possibility of a ground offensive.
Since October 8, 2023 — just a day after Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing 1,200 and abducting 251 — Hezbollah has been attacking Israeli communities and military posts along the border in solidarity with the Palestinian terror group, which is also sponsored by Iran.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 22 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
After more than 11 months of cross-border violence that skirted all-out war, the fighting has ramped up in recent days, with hundreds of rockets fired at Israel and intensive IDF airstrikes on Hezbollah sites in Lebanon, as well as the targeted strikes that have killed a number of the terror group’s leaders.
The fighting escalated after last week, Israel’s security cabinet updated its official goals for the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza to include the objective of allowing residents of the north to return safely to their homes after being displaced by attacks by Hezbollah.
Hezbollah had named 513 members killed during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. Another 88 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians had also been killed. These numbers have not been consistently updated since Israel began its new offensive this week.