- Lebanese officials say at least 37 people have been killed in Beirut following the attack, including three children and seven women.
- Turkish leader Erdogan accuse Israel of dragging whole region into war, engages in terrorism
Israel’s military says it has “almost completely dismantled” Hezbollah’s leadership with its airstrike on Beirut yesterday.
In a post on X, the Israel Defence Forces said a dozen “significant terrorists” were killed.
It accompanied the statement with an image showing Hezbollah’s military chain of command, with six people’s photos carrying a red tag that said “eliminated.”
The statement said: “Hezbollah’s military chain of command has been almost completely dismantled after a dozen significant terrorists including Ibrahim Aqil were eliminated yesterday. We will continue operating against any terrorist organization that poses a threat to our civilians on all fronts.”
The Israeli military had stated that it has been “extensively” striking southern Lebanon.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said forces launched the strikes after detecting that Hezbollah was “preparing to fire” towards Israel.
“In the past hour, we have been striking extensively in southern Lebanon, following detection of Hezbollah preparing to fire toward Israeli territory,” he said.
“Dozens of Israeli Air Force aircraft are currently striking terrorist targets and rocket launchers to remove the threat to Israeli civilians.”
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan believes that Israel acts as a terrorist organization, its target being not only the Gaza Strip but the whole region.
“I have been saying all along that Israel targets not only the Gaza Strip. The recent attacks on Lebanon have confirmed our suspicion that the Israeli leadership’s plan is to spread the war to the entire region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his gang have been staging all kinds of provocations to implement their radical Zionist ideology. The pressure on Israel must be intensified further to prevent the region from being dragged into an even greater disaster,” Erdogan told the media before flying to the United States for the UN General Assembly session.
He said he would address the UNGA on the first day to ask the participants to remember “the need for taking action against genocide in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s aggressive policies.”
“Once again, unfortunately, we see that Israel is carrying out attacks not as a state but as a terrorist organization. This is state terrorism. The latest digital attacks [the explosions of communication devices in Lebanon] are a very clear confirmation of this. With this attack Israel clearly demonstrated that it does not care about civilians and will try to achieve its mean aims goals at any cost,” Erdogan said.
About the schedule of his meetings on the sidelines of the UNGA Erdogan said that “at the moment there is no certainty whether there will be a meeting with US President Joe Biden,” but there are events within the framework of the General Assembly where both of them would be present.
And Lebanon’s health ministry say 37 people have been confirmed killed in yesterday’s Israeli airstrike on Beirut.
Previously, 31 people had been reported killed in the strike, which also killed senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil.
Three children and seven women have also been reported dead, and 68 wounded, according to the ministry.
With additional reports from TASS, Sky News