An explosion occurred in the Lebanese capital Beirut after Israel threatened “immediate attacks” on Hezbollah financial sites.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday night that they planned to attack “numerous” sites used by the group’s Al-Qar al-Hassan unit to pay operatives and help buy weapons.
Initial warnings targeted southern Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley, but a senior Israeli intelligence official said attacks would likely take place “all over Lebanon.” One was spotted near Rafik Al Hariri International Airport.
Images released by the IDF and verified by Sky News show buildings collapsing after the Israeli strikes.
The building was one of several identified as targets by the Israeli military a few hours earlier.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari warned civilians that “anyone in the vicinity of locations financing Hezbollah’s terrorist activities is obliged to leave immediately.”
This came just hours after Israel claimed to have attacked Hezbollah intelligence headquarters in Beirut.
“The IAF (Israeli Air Force) carried out an intelligence-based strike against the command center and underground weapons workshop of Hezbollah intelligence headquarters in Beirut,” the IDF announced on Sunday.
“Furthermore, the IAF… attacked and eliminated terrorist Alhaj Abbas Salama, a senior commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, as well as terrorists Radha Abbas Awada and Ahmad Ali Hussein, in the Tebnain district.”
The IDF claimed it had taken “a number of measures” in both cases to “reduce the risk of harm to civilians”.
In response, the Israeli army added that 160 rockets were fired across the Lebanese border into northern Israel over Sunday.
Tensions have been rising between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah forces at the border since a Hamas attack on October 7 last year.
The conflict escalated earlier this month when Iran fired missiles directly at Israel. The region is still waiting for a response from Israel.
US authorities are currently investigating the possible leak of two top-secret intelligence documents related to Israel’s response.
According to Sky’s partner channel NBC News, the alleged leaks reveal that US intelligence agencies are pursuing possible retaliation from Israel.
The Lebanese army also said over the weekend that three of its soldiers had been killed in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon.
The army is not affiliated with Hezbollah, which is considered a banned terrorist group in most Western countries.
Israel has not commented on the reports but has previously said it is fighting Hezbollah, not the Lebanese state, despite repeated skirmishes between the two groups of soldiers on the border over the past year.
On Sunday, the UN military in Lebanon also accused Israel of “deliberately destroying” a watchtower and one of the border fences in the border town of Marwahin.
“We remind the IDF and all parties of their obligation to ensure the safety of UN personnel and property and to respect at all times the inviolability of UN buildings.”
“At least 87” people killed in Gaza attack Meanwhile, at least 87 people were killed in Gaza in one of the deadliest attacks in recent months, according to Hamas-controlled health authorities.
An airstrike on the northern town of Beit Lahiya late Saturday also injured 40 others, according to the Gaza Strip’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry.
Beit Lahiya was one of the first Gaza towns to be attacked after the massacre on October 7 last year.
Israel disputed the figure when it first emerged. It then rose from 10 to 60, 73, and finally 87. The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and Hamas fighters in its dead and wounded figures.
Israel “switches targets” in Gaza
The attack on Beit Lahiya comes about two weeks after a major attack on nearby Jabalia, home to one of Gaza’s largest refugee camps.
The IDF said it had ordered residents to leave the area and the rest of northern Gaza, including staff and patients at a hospital where Hamas fighters are allegedly harbored, a claim the group denies.
Currently, more than 5,000 people have left Jabalia through official channels, but doctors at the hospital are refusing to comply with evacuation orders. Many have warned that the evacuation orders are designed to allow Israel to take control of northern Gaza when the current conflict ends. Israel denies this and claims it is trying to protect civilians.
According to Sean Bell, a military analyst at Sky, Israel’s new focus on northern Gaza, where it launched its operation in 2023, suggests that Israel has “changed its objectives” and is now “totally destroying Hamas’ fighting capability”.