Israel detects 5 more projectiles fired from Lebanon
Israel detected five more projectiles fired from Lebanon on Saturday morning, setting off sirens across a large area of the north, the Israeli military said.
Sirens were activated in more than 100 communities, based on a count of the military’s Home Front Command warning application.
The attack followed an earlier barrage of 10 projectiles detected from the Lebanese side of the border. Hezbollah said earlier it fired rockets toward northern Israel in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanese cities and villages.
The history of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel
Explosions rocked Beirut on Friday and Saturday as Israeli strikes first targeted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, then several buildings which, it alleges, are storing the militant group’s missiles in the Lebanese capital.
While this is a recent escalation in fighting, here’s what to know about their decades-long conflict:
Israeli invasion: Israel took almost half of Lebanon’s territory when its forces invaded in 1982. This included Beirut, where Israeli forces, along with right-wing Israel-allied Christian Lebanese militias, laid siege to the western part of the capital to drive out Palestinian militants.
Israel’s operation led to the deaths of over 17,000 people, according to reports and an Israeli inquiry into a massacre at a Beirut refugee camp. The investigation held Israel indirectly responsible for the massacre carried out by the Christian Lebanese fighters.
The rise of Hezbollah: As droves of Palestinian fighters left Lebanon, a band of Shia Islamist militants trained by Iran burst onto the scene. In 1983, two suicide bombers linked to the faction attacked a US Marine barracks in Beirut, killing almost 300 US and French personnel and civilians.
A year later, Iran-linked fighters bombed the US Embassy in Beirut, killing 23 people. In 1985, those militants coalesced around a newly founded organization: Hezbollah.
Support for Gaza: Hezbollah is part of a larger Iran-led alliance of militant groups spanning Yemen, Syria, Gaza, and Iraq that has increasingly clashed with Israel and its allies since the war with Hamas started — and has vowed to continue until the war ends.
Killing of key leader: Tensions escalated when Israel said it killed Hezbollah’s most senior military commander, Fu’ad Shukr, with a strike on Beirut in July. In retaliation, Hezbollah launched hundreds of drones and missiles into Israel.
Displaced residents: The increase in cross-border fighting has forced people from their homes in both Israel and Lebanon. Israel this month made it a war objective to return tens of thousands of Israel’s northern residents to their homes near the border. Lebanon has recorded more than 100,000 people displaced, but authorities said the true number is likely much higher.
Israeli military says about 10 projectiles fired from Lebanon Saturday morning
About 10 projectiles were fired from Lebanon toward northern Israel Saturday morning, the Israeli military said.
Hezbollah said it fired rockets toward northern Israel in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanese cities and villages.
“[Hezbollah militants] bombarded the settlement of Kabri with Fadi-1 rockets,” the group said in a statement on Saturday.
Meanwhile, a CNN team in Beirut saw smoke rising from the city’s southern Dahiyeh neighborhood as the sun rose over Lebanon’s capital.
This post has been updated with Hezbollah’s statement.
Israeli military launches new round of airstrikes in Lebanon’s Beqaa region
Israel’s military said it had launched a new round of airstrikes in Lebanon’s Beqaa region, according to a statement on Saturday morning.
The announcement followed an earlier round of strikes overnight in the area.
Israeli attacks kill at least 6 Palestinians in Gaza, Civil Defense says
Israeli attacks killed at least six Palestinians and injured others in Gaza overnight, according to statements from the Palestinian Civil Defense in the strip.
Four people were killed in the bombardment of a house in Rafah, the Civil Defense spokesperson said in a statement late Friday. Two others were killed in an attack at the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, the spokesperson added on Saturday.
CNN cannot independently verify the reports and has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.
Hospitals to be evacuated in Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh area following Israeli strikes
Hospitals in Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh suburb will be evacuated following deadly Israeli strikes on the area overnight, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said Saturday.
Israeli military strikes Friday and Saturday flattened buildings in the south of the Lebanese capital, killing at least six people and wounding dozens of others, according to the ministry.
It also called on hospitals and health centers to prepare to receive displaced patients from Dahiyeh.
US defense secretary warns of “devastating” all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Friday of “devastating” consequences if Israel engages in an all-out war with Hezbollah, telling CNN in an exclusive interview that casualties would “equal or exceed” the number in Gaza.
The defense secretary, reiterating the US’ desire for a “diplomatic solution,” also said a possible ground incursion by Israeli forces into Lebanon risks spiraling the situation into a regional conflict.
The US and several prominent allies believed they had achieved a 21-day pause in fighting that would give time for diplomacy and could prevent a full-fledged war from breaking out between Israel and Hezbollah. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said reports of an imminent deal were “incorrect” and vowed to continue to hit the Iran-backed militant group “with all our might.”
Netanyahu spoke at the United Nations General Assembly Friday morning, where he vowed to continue Israel’s military efforts and warned “there is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach.”
It’s morning in Beirut. Here’s what you need to know
The sun has risen in Beirut after a night of explosions rocked the Lebanese capital, as Israel said it carried out strikes on the headquarters of the Iran-backed paramilitary group Hezbollah and its arms depots.
Here’s what we know so far:
- Where: Strikes hit parts of Beirut, including the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, a densely populated area with a strong Hezbollah presence, and where many of the group’s leadership is based. Israel later launched further strikes on southern Beirut, targeting what it said were stores of Hezbollah weapons. The militant group denied its arms were being stored in civilian buildings targeted by the strikes.
- Main target: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of Israel’s strikes Friday, an Israeli official told CNN. Israel is working to verify whether he was killed, with a senior Israeli official saying it’s “too early to say” if Nasrallah is dead. Multiple Hezbollah commanders and operatives were killed in the strikes Friday, the Israeli military said.
- Impact: At least six people were killed and 91 injured in the initial attack Friday, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said, as thousands of displaced residents fled their homes. Six buildings were destroyed, state news agency NNA reported. Video from the immediate aftermath of the attack showed a massive crater that dwarfed rescuers navigating the rubble. The area hit appeared to be considerably larger than previous Israeli strikes on Beirut.
- Weapons used: Images of the aftermath suggest 2,000-pound bombs were used in the strikes, a former US Army explosive ordnance disposal expert told CNN. “With the level of damage, it is hard to determine the exact munitions and amount, but likely multiple 2,000-pound bombs, Mk 84s, MPR-2000, or BLU-109 “bunker busters,” or a combination of them,” specialist Trevor Ball said.
- What Lebanon says: Prime Minister Najib Mikati has urged the international community to help stop what he called Israeli “tyranny,” state news agency NNA reported Friday. “The new aggression proves that the Israeli enemy does not care about international efforts and calls for a ceasefire,” Mikati said.
- Netanyahu’s movements: The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office shared an image of Benjamin Netanyahu approving strikes on Beirut. He is returning to Israel a day early from the UN General Assembly in New York, where he made a combative speech Friday.
- Iran’s response: The Iranian embassy in Beirut said the Israeli attack Friday “changes the rules of the game.” It also warned that Israel would be “punished” for what Iran’s president described as a “flagrant war crime.”
- US frustrated: Israel told the US it was taking military action only moments before the attacks — once the operation was already underway, one US official said. President Joe Biden later told reporters the US had “no knowledge of or participation in” the strikes. Top US officials were already furious this week after Netanyahu threw cold water on a Washington-backed ceasefire proposal for Israel and Hezbollah, sources told CNN.
On Beirut’s sleepless night of bombardment, the displaced look for somewhere to go
It was 3 a.m. and southern Beirut was under the most intense bombardment it had seen in nearly 20 years. A CNN team drove past a sea of people camped out on sidewalks, mostly on the seaside boardwalk that hugs the coast in the still untouched western parts of the city.
These were the displaced from neighborhoods being pummelled by Israeli warplanes. Some were chatting on the curb, a few lay asleep on benches and on the ground. Women cradled sleeping babies and toddlers. Children wandered the streets, snaking through double-parked cars aimlessly in their pyjamas.
On the city’s commercial Hamra Street, a crowd outside an abandoned building forced the traffic to a near stop. A man knocked down the iron gate, allowing a flood of displaced people in for shelter. A fresh wave of arrivals pulled up. Visibly exhausted women emerged from the cars hauling their kids, blankets and mattresses.
Most people were carrying little more than the clothes on their backs as they rushed out in search of safety. Many tried to put on a brave face, the anxiety lying under the thin veneer of bravado. “We’re OK! I’m sure our home is OK. There’s nothing to worry about,” one women in her early 60s told a group of people around her.
It was sleepless night in the Lebanese capital. The streets were busier than usual in the early hours of Saturday morning. Restaurants and cafes were open, serving food and coffee as the images of the explosions lighting up the night sky, just a few miles away, flashed on TV screens.
As we crisscrossed the city in our car, the Israeli military issued fresh evacuation orders for the residents of not yet struck parts of southern Beirut. One of the listed neighborhoods was Bourj el Barajneh, a densely populated area that includes a Palestinian refugee camp and where many poorer migrants live. Less than 30 minutes later, Israeli forces began strikes there.
Whether many of those residents managed to make it out on time is unclear. Meanwhile the people of Beirut wait to see what has become of their homes, their city and its civilians.
Israeli military launches airstrikes in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley
Israel’s military said it was striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, according to a statement on Saturday.
“Over the past hour, the IDF has struck additional terror targets belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the area of Beqaa,” the statement said.
The announcement came as dozens of explosions rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
The Beqaa valley, located in the east of the country along the border with Syria, has come under repeated Israeli airstrikes over the past week.
On Thursday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned that humanitarian needs in the area were outpacing the capacity of aid agencies to respond with residents forced to flee their homes and shelters struggling to house them.
Israeli military issues another evacuation order for parts of southern Beirut
The Israeli military issued another evacuation order for residents of Al-Barajneh and Al-Hadath neighborhoods to leave specific locations indicated on maps in Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh.
Those buildings include some near a school in the Al-Barajneh neighborhood, a densely populated Palestinian refugee camp that is also home to Syrian refugees and migrant workers. Adraee also ordered residents to evacuate the buildings in front of and near another school in Al-Hadath.
Shortly after the evacuation order was issued, a CNN team in Beirut saw at least four airstrikes hit multiple locations in the southern suburbs.
The evacuation order comes after an earlier one in which Adraee also told residents in several buildings in the Al-Laylaki neighborhood to evacuate, as well as in Al-Hadath.
Israel strikes Beirut buildings allegedly housing Hezbollah weapons and command centers
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it is striking buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, that it alleges are used by Hezbollah as command centers and weapons production and storage sites.
The statement comes hours after the IDF began striking buildings in the Dahiyeh neighborhood in southern Beirut.
Hezbollah has denied that its weapons are being stored in civilian buildings targeted by Israeli strikes.