Israel launches massive strikes against Hezbollah in Beirut

Thousands of people, including Palestinian refugees, are continuing to flee Beirut as Israel hit Dahiyeh, its southern suburban area.

Blasts began at midnight after Israel's military ordered people to evacuate areas in Dahiyeh neighorhood in greater Beirut, also a Hezbollah stronghold.

An Israeli airstrike early Sunday killed at least 18 people and wounded many others in central Gaza, Palestinian medical officials said. 

The strike hit a mosque sheltering displaced people near the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the town of Deir al-Balah, the hospital said in a statement. 

The strikes come as the war in Gaza approaches its first anniversary. 

The Israeli military said it was conducting "precise strikes on  Hamas terrorists" operating within command and control centers in the mosque as well as a school.

Israeli forces have invaded several hospitals in Gaza over the almost one-year old war, accusing Hamas of using them for military purposes, allegations denied by Palestinian health officials.

Germany, the European Union, the US and others classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.

French President Emmanuel Macron has called for halting arms deliveries to Israel for use in Gaza.

He also criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s move to launch a ground offensive in Lebanon, saying that avoiding an escalation there was a "priority."

"Lebanon cannot become a new Gaza," he added.

The French president reiterated his concern over the conflict in Gaza that is continuing despite repeated calls for a cease-fire.

"I think we are not being heard," he told French broadcaster France Inter. "I think it is a mistake, including for the security of Israel," he said, adding that the conflict was leading to "hatred."

Macron’s comments drew a sharp response from Netanyahu.

"As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilized countries should be standing firmly by Israel's side," Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office.

"Yet, President Macron and other Western leaders are now calling for arms embargoes against Israel. Shame on them."

Macron's office responded to Netanyahu’s comments, saying that France is a "steadfast friend of Israel" and describing Netanyahu's reaction as "excessive and detached from the friendship between France and Israel."

Thousands of protesters marched in cities across the world calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon.

About 40,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through central London while thousands also gathered in Paris, Rome, Manila, Cape Town and New York City.

Demonstrations have also been held near the White House in Washington, protesting US support for Israel.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict began when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage.

Israel's subsequent military offensive in Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza.

There are growing concern that the conflict could escalate into a wider war in the region as Israel mounts a ground operation in Lebanon and vows to respond to a barrage of missiles fired by Iran this week.

Hezbollah militants fired around 130 projectiles at Israel on Saturday, the Israeli military said.

There were initially no reports of victims or damage.

The Israel Defense Forces said it will continue to attack targets in Lebanon in an effort to weaken Hezbollah and drive it back from the border.

Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Shiite political party and militant group in Lebanon.

It is designated as a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries.

The EU lists its armed wing as a terrorist group.

Israel is still conducting "relentless" strikes against Hezbollah targets in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, journalist Karim El-Gawhary told DW on Saturday evening.

El-Gawhary said he had counted eight strikes in the southern part of the city in the previous three to four hours.

Noting how the Lebanese Ministry of Health had said that more than 50 paramedics were killed as a result of Israeli strikes over the last 72 hours, El-Gawhary also described how two Lebanese hospitals were struck by Israeli strikes and had to close, while a third was shuttered because it ran out of supplies.

"The UN is saying that the health system in Lebanon is starting to collapse," he told DW.

The Lebanese government said this week that more than a million people have been displaced by the worsening conflict, many of them have left in cars to neighboring Syria.

"People are too scared to go back," El-Gawhary said, despite having left with just the clothes on their backs. He added that "some of them are quite traumatized [by seeing their city being attacked]."

The Beirut-based journalist said some of those forced to evacuate were now camping alongside the Corniche — a seaside promenade in the center of the city — and are "really desperate" as they don't know whether the strikes would last just a few more days or maybe for many more weeks.

The potential successor to slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been out of contact since Friday, news agencies have cited Lebanese security sources as saying, after an Israeli airstrike reported to have targeted him.

Israel carried out a large strike on Beirut's southern suburbs late on Thursday that reportedly targeted Hashem Safieddine in an underground bunker.

Lebanese security sources said Israeli strikes since Friday on Dahiyeh — a residential area and Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut — have kept rescue workers from scouring the site of the attack.

Hezbollah has made no comment so far on Safieddine.

The loss of Nasrallah's rumored successor would be another blow to the Iran-backed Shiite political party and militant group in Lebanon.

Israeli strikes across the region in the past few weeks have decimated the outfit’s leadership.

Israel launched massive strikes targeting the southern suburbs of Beirut from late Saturday into Sunday, news agencies reported.

The explosions rocked the Lebanese capital, illuminating the densely populated southern suburbs.

The blasts began around midnight after Israel’s military urged residents to evacuate areas in Dahiyeh, the predominantly Shiite collection of suburbs on Beirut's southern edge which is a stronghold of the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.

They followed a day of sporadic strikes and the nearly continuous buzz of reconnaissance drones.

sri/kb (AP, dpa, AFP, Reuters)