Struck Hezbollah's headquarters in huge explosion, says Israel

The Israeli military said Friday it struck the central headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut where a series of massive explosions levelled multiple buildings sending clouds of orange and black smoke billowing in the skiesThe strikes in the suburbs south of Lebanons capital came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the UN vowing that Israels campaign against Hezbollah would continue His comments further dimmed hopes for an internationally backed ceasefire aimed at preventing a spiral into allout warThree major Israeli TV channels said Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the strikes But 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 blast there were strong indications that a highvalue target may have been inside the buildings struckTo a degree unseen in past conflicts Israel this past week has aimed to eliminate Hezbollahs senior leadershipFridays bombings were the most powerful yet seen in the Lebanese capital the past year The Israeli army spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said it targeted the main Hezbollah headquarters located beneath residential buildings Four buildings in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood of Dahiyeh were reduced to rubbleHezbollahs AlManar TV reported The blast rattled windows and shook houses some 30 km 18 miles north of Beirut Ambulances were seen headed to the scene sirens wailingOfficials at a nearby hospital said they received at least 10 wounded three critically including a Syrian childIsrael 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 territoryThe scope of Israels 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 preparationAt 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 childrenA 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 grandchildrenAt the UN Netanyahu vowed to continue degrading Hezbollah until Israel achieves its goalsNetanyahus comments have damped hopes for a USbacked call for a 21day truce between Israel and Hezbollah to allow time for a diplomatic solutionHezbollah has not responded to the proposalIranianbacked 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 borderAn 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 militarys goals are much narrowerIn 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 guidelinesThe 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 TiberiasIn the southern Lebanese city of Tyre civil defence workers pulled the bodies of two women 35yearold Hiba Ataya and her mother Sabah Olyan from the rubble of a building brought down by a strike Thats Sabah these are her clothes my love one man cried out as her body emergedIsrael says its accelerated strikes this week have already inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollahs 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 backBut the group boasted a large arsenal of rockets and missiles and its remaining capacities remain unknownHezbollah officials and their supporters remain defiant Not long before the explosions Friday evening thousands were massed in another part of Beiruts suburbs for the funeral of three Hezbollah members killed in earlier strikes including the head of the groups drone unit Mohammed SurourMen 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 groups yellow flagHussein Fadlallah head of Hezbollah in Beirut said in a speech that no matter how many commanders Israel kills the group has endless numbers of experience fighters who are deployed all over the front lines Fadlallah vowed that Hezbollah will keep fighting until Israel stops its offensive in GazaWe will not abandon the support of Palestine Jerusalem and oppressed Gaza Fadlallah said There is no place for neutrality in this battleThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever