Beirut under fire… Israel expands its strikes against Hezbollah
Strikes carried out on Saturday by the Israel Defense Forces targeted “Hezbollah infrastructure” in Beirut, after the destruction of a bridge in eastern Lebanon aimed at preventing reinforcements from reaching the Iran-backed group.
A correspondent for the Agence France-Presse reported hearing two powerful explosions in the capital within half an hour early Saturday and saw smoke rising after one of them.
Local media reported two strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been the target of Israeli raids in recent days, as Israeli forces continue their ground advance in the south of the country.
Israeli strikes
The official agency quoted the Emergency Health Operations Center of the Ministry of Health as saying that an Israeli strike on the town of Maarka, in the Tyre district, resulted in ten Lebanese injured according to an initial toll.
According to the National News Agency, Israeli warplanes carried out a series of strikes at dawn Saturday in the western Bekaa, three of which targeted the town of Sahmar. Strikes also hit the town of Machghara, leaving two people injured.
It added that Israeli aircraft launched violent strikes at dawn on the area between the towns of Al-Burj Al-Shamali and Al-Hosh, as well as another strike between Tayr Debba and Al-Abbassiya. A strike also targeted the town of Al-Mansouri.
The National News Agency correspondent reported that the head of the Civil Defense center in Tyre and two other members were lightly injured and suffered suffocation during a second strike targeting Al-Hosh while they were conducting rescue operations. They were transferred to hospital and are in stable condition.
Meanwhile, the towns of Yater, Kafra, Srifa, and Beit Lif were subjected to enemy artillery shelling, according to the official agency, which also reported strikes on the town of Tebnine targeting an uninhabited house.
According to the agency, Israeli strikes also targeted a house in the town of Majdal Selm and boats in the port of Tyre, causing damage.
The strike on the Al-Hosh area also caused significant damage to the Lebanese-Italian Hospital building, forcing the administration to take precautionary measures.
On Friday, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon announced that three of its soldiers were injured following an explosion “of unknown origin” inside one of its bases, marking the third such incident in a week.
The Israeli military had announced its intention to bomb two adjacent bridges over the Litani River in the western Bekaa in eastern Lebanon to “prevent the transfer of reinforcements and combat equipment” to Hezbollah.
The National News Agency stated that “Israeli warplanes targeted the bridge linking Sahmar to Machghara, resulting in its destruction.” Local media reported that the second bridge was also bombed.
Strikes continued in Sahmar until Saturday morning, with the town center bombed twice while warplanes circled overhead.
Since the beginning of the war, Israel has destroyed five vital bridges over the Litani River, which divides southern Lebanon into two parts, while conducting ground operations along multiple axes in the south.
In Sahmar as well, two people were killed and fifteen others injured in an “Israeli enemy strike (…) as worshippers were leaving the town mosque,” according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Lebanese authorities reported more than 1,300 deaths since the beginning of the war.
A difficult week
An “explosion” at a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon site near the town of Adaisseh in southern Lebanon on Friday resulted in “three peacekeepers injured, two of them seriously,” the international force said, noting that “the source of the explosion remains unknown.”
The force’s spokesperson, Candice Ardell, said: “This has been a difficult week for peacekeepers,” reminding “all parties of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of peacekeepers, including avoiding any combat activity nearby that could put them at risk.”
The Israeli military accused Hezbollah of “firing a projectile that landed inside a UNIFIL site in southern Lebanon.”
On the outskirts of the southern suburbs, Christians observed Good Friday ceremonies in Chiyah with a procession around Mar Maroun Church.
On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened Hezbollah and its Secretary-General Naïm Qassem with paying a “very heavy price” for intensifying attacks during the Jewish Passover. He said his forces “will cleanse southern Lebanon of Hezbollah and its supporters, maintain Israeli security control over the entire Litani area, and dismantle Hezbollah’s military capabilities throughout Lebanon.”
