Emergency personnel work at the site of Friday's Israeli strike, as search and rescue operations continue, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon September 21, 2024. Photo: Reuters
At least 37 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb on Friday, including three children and seven women, the Lebanese health ministry said on Saturday.
Hezbollah said overnight that those killed in the deadliest strike in a year of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel included 16 of its members, and that senior leader Ibrahim Aqil and another top commander, Ahmed Wahbi, were among the dead, reports Reuters.
The Israeli army, in posts on X, said the strike hit an underground gathering of Aqil and senior commanders of Hezbollah's elite Radwan forces, and had "almost completely dismantled" Hezbollah's military chain of command.
Heavy cross-border strikes continued on Saturday, with Israeli warplanes carrying some of its heaviest bombardment in 11 months of fighting across Lebanon's south and Hezbollah claiming rocket attacks on military targets in Israel's north.
Friday's strike sharply escalated the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group, and inflicted another blow on Hezbollah after two days of attacks this week in which pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded.
The total death toll in those attacks has risen to 39, and more than 3,000 were injured.
The attacks on communications devices were widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
Hezbollah-aligned transport minister Ali Hamieh told reporters at the scene of Friday's strike that at least 23 people were still missing.
"The Israeli enemy is taking the region to war," he said.
The ministry had dispatched vehicles and equipment to help rescuers dig through the collapsed buildings. "We’ve been taking out women and children from under the rubble," he said.
