The IDF announced on Friday that it had conducted an airstrike on Beirut, the second on the Lebanese capital in the last two months, with the first eliminating Fuad Shukr. Hezbollah officials told the Agence France-Presse that the strike had eliminated Hezbollah senior Radwan Commander Ibrahim Aqil.
The strike reportedly killed eight people and wounded 59 others, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a preliminary toll.
Reactions to the strike differed across the political and geographic spectrum.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati accused Israel of giving “no weight to any humanitarian, legal or moral considerations” after the targeted strike.
Iran’s embassy in Lebanon condemned the strike, saying on social media, “We strongly condemn the Israeli madness and arrogance that has exceeded all limits by targeting residential areas in the southern suburbs of Beirut, resulting in the martyrdom and injury of dozens, including children and women.”
ندين بأشد العبارات الجنون الإسرائيلي والصلف الذي تجاوز كل الحدود باستهداف المناطق السكنية في الضاحية الجنوبية لبيروت، ما أسفر عن استشهاد وجرح العشرات، بينهم أطفال ونساء. نؤكد مجددًا أن مثل هذه الجرائم الإرهابية لن تنال من عزيمة وإيمان اللبنانيين. خالص العزاء لأهالي الشهداء،…
— السفارة الإيرانية- لبنان (@IranEmbassyLB) September 20, 2024
The Iranian embassy labeled the strike as “terrorist crimes.” The embassy did not comment on the presence of terror groups in the capital city.
Israeli officials react
While Lebanese officials decried the strike, Israeli officials claimed that Hezbollah was “paying the price” for its continued attacks on the northern border.
Dan Poraz, Chargé d’affaires at the Israeli embassy in Spain, wrote on X, “Hezbollah had numerous chances to accept a deal brokered by the United States to which Israel agreed to: to stop attacking Israel and to pull its forces north of the Litani river. They refused. And now they’re paying the price. And dragging an entire country down with them.”
Discussions on regional escalation renew
Other international figures held back on reacting, instead meeting to discuss the recent escalations between Israel and the Iran-backed terror group.
Britain’s foreign minister, David Lammy, chaired a meeting of the government’s emergency committee, known as COBR, on Friday to discuss the latest situation in Lebanon.
“The Foreign Secretary has chaired a meeting of COBR this morning on the latest situation in Lebanon and to discuss ongoing preparedness work, with the risk of escalation remaining high,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.
US National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby asserted that there was no US involvement in the strike, and pushed for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
“There was no US involvement,” Kirby said, adding, “We believe that there is still time and space for diplomacy to work.”
“We don’t want to see escalation. We don’t want to see a second war, a second front in this war opened up at the border with Lebanon,” Kirby stressed, adding that “everything we’re doing is going to be involved in trying to prevent that outcome.”
“There is no reason for an expanded military conflict in Lebanon to be inevitable,” Kirby stated.
Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.