Israel target Hezbollah HQ, Iran refuse to back down

Israel has said it had targeted the intelligence headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut and was assessing the damage after a series of strikes on senior figures in the group that Iran's Supreme Leader dismissed as counterproductive.

The Israeli government has been weighing options in its response to the Iranian ballistic missile attack, which Iran had carried out in response to Israel's military action in Lebanon.

Oil prices have risen on the possibility of an attack on Iran's oil facilities as Israel pursues its goals of pushing back Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and eliminating their Hamas allies in Gaza.

The air attack on Beirut, part of a wider assault that has driven more than 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes, was reported to have targeted the potential successor to the leader of Iran-backed Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, killed by Israel a week ago.

Hashem Safieddine's fate was unclear and neither Israel nor Hezbollah have offered any comment.

A blast was heard and smoke was seen over Beirut's southern suburbs early, Reuters witnesses said, shortly after the Israeli military issued two alerts for residents of the area to immediately evacuate.

US President Joe Biden said he would think about alternatives to striking Iranian oil fields if he were in Israel's shoes, adding that he thinks Israel has not yet concluded how to respond to Iran.

The government in Lebanon says more than 2,000 people have been killed there in the past year, most in the past two weeks.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric called the toll on civilians "totally unacceptable."

The Lebanese government has accused Israel of targeting civilians, pointing to dozens of women and children killed. It has not broken down the overall figure between civilians and Hezbollah fighters.

Israel says it targets military capabilities and takes steps to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians. It accuses Hezbollah and Hamas of hiding among civilians, which they deny.

The US State Department said that an American was killed in Lebanon this week and the US was working to understand the circumstances of the incident.

Kamel Ahmad Jawad, from Dearborn, Michigan, was killed in an Israeli airstrike, according to his daughter, a friend and the US congresswoman representing his district.

The latest bloodletting in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict stems from an attack by Palestinian Hamas militants' 7 October 2023, that killed 1,200 and in which about 250 were taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent assault on Gaza has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, and displaced nearly Gaza's entire population, caused a hunger crisis and led to genocide allegations that Israel denies.

Read more about the conflict in the Middle East

The Israeli military said some 70 projectiles were launched from Lebanon into Israeli territory and were either intercepted or fell in open land.

Israel sent ground forces into Lebanon this week after the Iranian missile attacks. It has said its ground operations are "localised" in villages near the border, but has not specified how far into Lebanon they would advance or how long they would last.

Israel says the operations aim to allow tens of thousands of its citizens to return home after Hezbollah bombardments that forced them to evacuate from its northern territories.

Iran vows not to go back

Iran's missile salvo was partly in retaliation for Israel's killing of Hezbollah secretary-general Nasrallah, a dominant figure who had turned the group into a powerful armed and political force with reach across the Middle East.

Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a huge crowd in Tehran yesterday that Iran and its regional allies would not back down.

Israel's adversaries in the region should "double your efforts and capabilities... and resist the aggressive enemy," Mr Khamenei said in a rare appearance leading Friday prayers, at which he mentioned Mr Nasrallah and called Iran's attack on Israel legal and legitimate.

He said Iran would not "procrastinate nor act hastily to carry out its duty" in confronting Israel.

Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said the military was still assessing airstrikes, which he said targeted Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters.

Earlier the Israeli military reported that it had killed the head of Hezbollah's communication networks, Mohammad Rashid Sakafi. It declined to comment on the report that Mr Safieddine was targeted.

Hezbollah made no comment on the fate of Mr Sakafi.

Flattened Beirut buildings

In Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs, many buildings have been reduced to rubble.

The Islamic Health Authority, a civil defence agency linked to Hezbollah, said 11 medics had been killed in three separate Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said that in the past day it had struck several weapons storage facilities, command and control centres, and Hezbollah infrastructure sites in the Beirut area.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, visiting Beirut and meeting with top Lebanese officials, said Iran supported efforts for a ceasefire in Lebanon provided it was backed by Hezbollah and was simultaneous with a Gaza ceasefire.