Thick smoke rises above the southern suburbs of Beirut after an Israel strike on Hezbollah's stronghold in Lebanon's capital killed at least eight people and wounded dozens of others in a Sept 20, 2024, file picture. - AFP
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP): Lebanon's Hezbollah has launched over 100 rockets early Sunday (Sept 22) across a wider and deeper area of northern Israel, with some landing near the city of Haifa, as the sides appeared to be spiralling toward all-out war following months of escalating tensions.
The rocket barrage overnight sent thousands of people scrambling into shelters. The Israeli military said rockets had been fired "toward civilian areas," pointing to a possible escalation after previous barrages had mainly been aimed at military targets.
The barrage came after an Israeli air strike in Beirut on Friday killed at least 37 people, including one of Hezbollah's top leaders as well as women and children. The militant group was already reeling from a sophisticated attack that caused thousands of personal devices to explode just days earlier.
In JERUSALEM, The Israeli defence minister said the steps taken against Hezbollah would continue until residents of Israel's north can return to their homes, saying "we will do everything necessary to achieve it."
Yoav Gallant was on a visit to the command and control centre of the Israeli Air Force when he said the Lebanese group "has started to sense some of the capabilities" of the Israeli army and that Hezbollah is now feeling "persecuted, and we are seeing the results."
He also called the operations conducted by the Israeli air force "very impressive, both defensively and offensively."
In the WEST BANK, Palestine, Israeli troops raided the offices of the satellite news network Al Jazeera in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The troops ordered the bureau to shut down early Sunday amid a widening campaign by Israel targeting the Qatar-funded broadcaster as it covers the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Al Jazeera aired footage of Israeli troops live on its Arabic-language channel ordering the office to be shut for 45 days. It follows an extraordinary order issued in May that saw Israeli police raid Al Jazeera's broadcast position in East Jerusalem, seizing equipment there, preventing its broadcasts in Israel and blocking its websites. The broadcaster has continued operating in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
In BEIRUT, the United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon urged for calm in the Middle East as Israel and Hezbollah continued to trade fire on Sunday, raising fears of a regional war.
"With the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer," Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert wrote in a post on X.
Hennis-Plasschaert earlier criticised the attack that saw thousands of devices explode in Lebanon and warned that it marks "an extremely concerning escalation in what is an already unacceptably volatile context."
An umbrella group of Iran-backed Iraqi militias, the Islamic Resistance, says it has launched drones targeting a military base in Israel.
The attack comes amid escalating fire exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, heightening fears of a broadening conflict.
The Israeli military says it intercepted multiple aerial devices approaching Israel from the direction of Iraq. It added that the targets did not cross into Israeli territory and no injuries were reported.
Pro-Iranian militias in Iraq have claimed responsibility for drone attacks on Israel multiple times since the outbreak of the war in Gaza almost a year ago.
The death toll following an Israeli strike on a southern Beirut suburb has risen to 45, Lebanon's health ministry said, as search operations continue for the third day.
The statement also said some remains have been collected and are yet to be identified.
Ali Harake, a local official and engineer at the scene says they are still looking for "around 15 bodies."
Meanwhile, the local municipality has brought in a crane in an attempt to retrieve people's belongings from the damaged buildings.
Friday's strike killed a top Hezbollah official Ibrahim Akil among a dozen other members of the militant group. Civilians, including at least two children, were among those killed in the busy neighbourhood. – AP
