Jerusalem, Oct 6 (EFE).- The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed on Sunday morning that it had struck what it claimed to be Hezbollah sites in Beirut overnight.
Lebanese state media said the southern suburbs of Beirut – which are controlled by the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah – were struck by more than 30 bombing raids on what the National News Agency (NNA) called the “most violent” night in the last year.
“During the hours of last night, Air Force warplanes, with precise intelligence guidance from the Intelligence Service, launched a series of raids in the Beirut area, targeting a number of weapons depots and other terrorist structures,” the IDF spokesman for Arab media Avichay Adraee, said in a statement.
Adraee said that the IDF “will continue to strike hard at Hezbollah” and will “deprive it of its capabilities and military infrastructure in Lebanon.”
The bombings hit at least five residential neighborhoods in the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahye, NNA reported, as well as a gas station located on the road between the capital and Rafic Hariri International Airport, the only operational airport in the country, where flights have been limited for weeks.
Earlier, Israel reported that approximately 130 missiles fired by Hezbollah had crossed from Lebanon into northern Israel.
The IDF also announced the death of two Hamas leaders in Lebanese territory, although neither Hamas nor Hezbollah have confirmed the deaths yet.
For its part, Hezbollah said that early Sunday morning it responded to an “attempted advance” by Israeli troops in the southern Lebanese border town of Odaisseh. Hours earlier, the Lebanese group had reported another infiltration attempt by Israel that was repelled with an attack that caused “a massive explosion”.
Since the start of hostilities, Israeli attacks in the south, the eastern Bekaa Valley and the capital, Beirut, have killed around 2,000 people and forced 1.2 million people to flee their homes, according to Lebanese officials. EFE
afcu/tw/ks
