Hezbollah confirmed that one of its leaders was the target of the Israeli attack launched in the suburbs of Beirut. Israel says it is trying to prevent the rearmament of the extremist movement.
The Islamist movement Hezbollah confirmed that one of its leaders was the target of the attack launched this Saturday by Israel in the suburbs of Beirut, and warned that the initiative threatens a new escalation in the conflict.
“The Hezbollah leadership is studying the issue of response and will make the appropriate decision,” said the vice-chairman of Hezbollah’s political council, Mahmoud Qamati, in statements to journalists at the scene of the attack, adding, quoted by the American news agency Associated Press:
“Today’s attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs opens the door to an escalation of attacks across Lebanon.”
Oshave intensified in recent weeks, with Israel and the United States putting pressure on Lebanon to disarm this extremist group.
Israel claims that Hezbollah is trying to rebuild its military capabilities in southern Lebanon, but the Lebanese government, which approved the military plan to disarm Hezbollah, denies this.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in a statement condemned today’s attack and accused Israel of refusing to fulfill its side of the ceasefire agreement, calling on the international community to “intervene with force and seriousness to stop the attacks on Lebanon and its people.”
Israel today attacked Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, for the first time since June, saying the target was Hezbollah’s chief of staff and warning the Iranian-backed militant group not to rearm and rebuild, a year after its last war.
“We will continue to act firmly to prevent any threat to northern residents and the State of Israel,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
Today’s attack in Beirut’s southern suburbs, for which no evacuation warning was issued, killed at least one person and injured 21 others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.
In October, a ceasefire was reached in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas, after two years of war, triggered by the unprecedented attack by the Islamist movement against Israel, on October 7, 2023.
Lebanon hosts approximately 222,000 Palestinian refugees, according to the UN, most of whom live in camps. Through a tacit agreement, Palestinian organizations control these camps, which the Lebanese army does not enter.
In August, the Palestinian factions present in these refugee camps in Lebanon began to hand over their weapons to the authorities, in accordance with an agreement signed in May that aimed to guarantee the Lebanese State’s monopoly on weapons.
With LUSA
