An Israeli air strike has targeted a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut’s southern suburbs in what the Israeli military says is retaliation for a cross-border rocket attack three days before that killed 12 children.
A loud blast was heard and a plume of smoke could be seen rising above the southern suburbs — a stronghold of the Iran-aligned Lebanese armed group Hezbollah — at about 7.40pm local time on Tuesday, a witness said.
A senior Lebanese security source said a senior Hezbollah commander had been the target of the air strike and his fate remained unclear.
Lebanon’s state-run news agency said an Israeli air strike had targeted the area around Hezbollah’s Shura Council in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood of the capital.
A Hezbollah official and the group’s TV station said that an Israeli air strike hit the area, causing damage.
‘Retaliation for the attack on Golan Heights’
People in Beirut have been on edge for days ahead of an anticipated Israeli attack in reprisal for the deadly rocket strike on a football field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday.
Hezbollah has denied involvement in that attack.
In a statement, the Israeli military said it had conducted “a targeted strike in Beirut on the commander responsible for the murder of the children in Majdal Shams and the killing of numerous additional Israeli civilians”.
Earlier on Tuesday, more rocket fire from south Lebanon killed a civilian in a kibbutz in northern Israel, medics said.
Shortly before the explosion in south Beirut, the Israeli military said 15 projectiles had been fired across the Lebanese border within the past few hours, with impacts in parts of the Upper Galilee region.
No injuries were reported.
Israel’s air force had just hit a Hezbollah observation post and “terror infrastructure” in south Lebanon, it added.
Fears the conflict could lead to an all-out war
As diplomats sought to contain the fallout, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said he did not believe a fight was inevitable between Hezbollah and Israel, though he remained concerned about the potential for escalation.
Hezbollah and Israel, which last fought each other in a major war in 2006, have been trading fire since the eruption of the Gaza war in October, after Hezbollah began firing at Israeli targets in what it says is solidarity with the Palestinians.
The Israeli attack hit a southern suburb of Beirut. Source: AAP / Wael Hamzeh/EPA
The hostilities have mostly been limited to the frontier region and both sides have previously indicated they do not seek a wider confrontation even as the conflict has prompted worry about the risk of a slide towards war.
In the latest exchanges of fire on Tuesday, the Israeli military said 10 rockets had been fired from Lebanon and one hit Kibbutz Hagoshrim, causing one casualty.
Israel’s ambulance service said the 30-year-old male died of shrapnel wounds.
while the immigration minister faces calls to help more Palestinians.
“The travel advice very clearly is ‘don’t go to Lebanon’,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Tuesday, after the government issued an updated warning in step with other countries.
“Australian citizens should ensure that they take advantage of the commercial flights that are available out of Lebanon at this time. This is a troubling area.”
