Israeli airstrikes on Beirut kill 37, search for at least 20 missing continues

The number of people killed in Israeli airstrikes that toppled a residential building in Beirut while targeting a Hezbollah commander has risen to 37 in total, a toll which rose slowly since Friday night as rescue operations in the wake of the attack revealed the scale of the damage.

The airstrikes on Friday followed a series of unprecedented attacks Israel launched across Lebanon over recent days, marking a substantial escalation in its operations against the country.

Cranes could be seen in Jamous Street in the southern Beiruti suburb of Dahiyeh on Saturday, digging through the rubble of Friday’s airstrikes.

Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad told journalists at a morning press conference that the Israeli missiles launched on the residential building in the crowded suburban area destroyed three floors, killing three children and seven women among the other casualties. Sixty-eight people were injured, according to Abiad.

The Health Ministry later issued a statement announcing that the death toll had increased to 37. 

Separately, Public Works Minister Ali Hamiyeh told journalists that at least 20 individuals who were in the area at the time of the attacks are still missing.

The Israeli military said on Friday that it had conducted a “targeted operation” in which it “eliminated” Hezbollah senior commander Ibrahim Aqil. Israel described Aqil as “the top leadership of the operations apparatus and the chain of command of the Radwan Unit.”

Aqil was in a meeting with Radwan Forces leadership at the time of the airstrike, a Hezbollah source who was in the area at the time told Mada Masr on Friday night.

The Radwan Force is an elite unit within Hezbollah’s military wing reported to consist of a few thousand specially trained forces. The unit operates in the south of Lebanon, created to conduct offensive operations in Israeli-held territory.

Aqil was a member of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council, the body responsible for military and security decisions within the party. He also headed the elite Radwan Force and was coordinating military operations in the southern front.

Hezbollah confirmed that Aqil as well as Ahmed Mahmoud Wahbe, who headed the group’s central training unit, were killed in the airstrike, releasing statements to mourn their deaths in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The group also announced on Friday night the death of one of its other senior commanders, Hussein Ali Mohsen Ghandour, without specifying whether he was killed during the airstrikes.

Hezbollah mourned 13 more of its fighters on Friday night without mentioning the cause of their deaths. In statements on its official channels, it marked the passing of Samer Abdel Halim Halawi, Hassan Hussein Mady, Mohamed Ahmed Reda, Aref Ahmed al-Rez, Hussein Ahmed Hadraj, Mohamed Kassem al-Attar, Hassan Youssef Abdel Sater, Abbas Samy Moslemany, Mahdy Moslem Gmoul, Gehad Shafik Khazaal Khanafer, Samer Abdel Halim Halawy, and Mahmoud Yassin Hamad, among others.

Funerals for seven of the dead took place on Saturday afternoon in different villages across Lebanon.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant described the Israeli airstrike targeting Aqil as “a new phase of war,” with the focus shifting to the Lebanese front, rather than Gaza.

The airstrikes on Aqil concluded a week of escalation on Lebanon pushed by Israel, after it detonated thousands of pagers and wireless mobile devices that had been rigged with explosives before being imported into the country and distributed to Hezbollah members.

The devices exploded simultaneously across the country, while those holding them were in public spaces and hospital departments, driving or shopping, surrounded by people.

During Saturday’s press conference, Abiad announced that the exploded pagers killed 12 and the explosion of wireless devices killed 27, with 777 injured from the explosions, including 152 in intensive care units.

Gallant said that Israel will continue to push against Hezbollah “until we achieve our goal, ensuring the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes.”

Around 100,000 Israeli residents of the north are reported to have left the area due to airstrikes and attacks Hezbollah has conducted on areas in Israeli-held territory since October 8.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a public address on Thursday in the wake of the pager and wireless device attacks earlier in the week, acknowledging that they constituted “a big blow in terms of security and humanity.”

Nasrallah also stressed that despite Israel wanting to drag Hezbollah into separate combat, fighters would continue conducting operations against it until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza and would continue to prevent Israeli citizens from returning to the areas they have left in the north.

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced on Saturday that he would cancel a planned trip to New York as “there is no priority at the present time higher than stopping the massacres committed by the Israeli enemy and the various types of wars it is waging.” Mikati was due to travel to the United States to attend activities hosted by the United Nations.

Speaking in the wake of the bombing, White House Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the United States believes “that there is time and space for a diplomatic solution,” denying US involvement in both the airstrikes and the attacks earlier in the week.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Atty met with the US Envoy to Lebanon, Amos Hochstein, in Washington on Saturday. State-aligned news outlet Al-Qahera News noted that Abdel Atty stressed the “utmost importance” of extending efforts to prevent further escalation in the region and restore stability in Lebanon.

Egypt is one of the mediators in the many unsuccessful rounds of negotiations for a ceasefire in the besieged Gaza enclave.

Hezbollah continues to stress that its airstrikes will continue until an agreement is reached between Hamas and Israel.