Gallant says Israel ‘destroying’ Hezbollah as bombing of Lebanon escalates

The Israeli military has pounded the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, and has struck southern Lebanon, as Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant claimed the army was “destroying” the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported on Sunday that Israel’s strikes on Dahiyeh – a southern suburb of Beirut – hit a residential building in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood near a mosque and a hospital.

The Israeli military said that it hit the “command centre of Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters” and an underground weapons facility in Beirut and that it killed three Hezbollah fighters in other attacks.

A video of the bombing posted on social media showed a multi-storey building being hit.

Israel also warned on Sunday that it was planning to target what it called Hezbollah’s financing arm, al-Qard al-Hassan, with air attacks as part of its war with the group, which has escalated significantly since September, and led to the killing of the Iran-backed group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

The Israeli military told people living near sites belonging to al-Qard al-Hassan – a bank with branches across the country – in Beirut and elsewhere to evacuate.

That came after Gallant told troops on Sunday that the military was stepping up its strikes on Hezbollah.

He said they were not only “defeating the enemy [Hezbollah], but we are destroying them in all the villages along the border, in the places that Hezbollah planned to use as launchpads for attacks against Israel”.

Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Hasbaiyya in southern Lebanon, said that the people living in the targeted building had no place to go to.

“They were given very short notice to evacuate by the Israeli military, and then those multiple air strikes came in,” he said.

Southern Lebanon attacks

The strikes on south Beirut came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of attempting to assassinate him by targeting his residence in Caesarea, Israel.

Later on Sunday, the Lebanese army, which is not fighting in the war, said three of its soldiers were killed in an Israeli strike on their vehicle in southern Lebanon.

Local security sources told the German DPA news agency that the Israeli army has almost destroyed several villages in southern Lebanon, razing homes and mosques to the ground.

According to the report, the military blew up the town of Ramyah in the Bint Jbeil district in southern Lebanon.

A separate report from NNA said Israel was carrying out large-scale bombing of buildings across the southern Lebanese towns of Odaisseh, Markaba and Rab el-Thalathine.

NNA reported 14 Israeli strikes in the space of 15 minutes on a single border village, Khiam, illustrating the intensity of the fighting.

Israeli strikes had targeted dozens of locations in southern Lebanon, including the city of Nabatieh for the third time this week, it said.

An Israeli strike hit a centre for rescue workers affiliated with Hezbollah in Deir el-Zahrani in southern Lebanon, partially destroying it, NNA reported.

The Israeli military said it “struck and eliminated over 65 Hezbollah terrorists … and struck dozens of Hezbollah terror targets” in southern Lebanon.

While Israel claims its stated objective is to dismantle Hezbollah’s infrastructure in southern Lebanon, it has issued a wave of enforced evacuation orders for hundreds of villages in the south, causing mass displacement.

It has also bombed towns in the north of the country, as well as locations that are far from Hezbollah-controlled areas.

Attacks on northern Israel

Hezbollah reported fresh attacks on northern Israel Sunday, with sirens sounding across at least seven cities and towns near the border with Lebanon, warning of incoming missiles.

According to the Israeli army, around 70 missiles were fired from Lebanon into Israel. Some were intercepted by the missile defence system, while others hit open areas and sparked fires.

Hours after Israel said it was stepping up its strikes targeting the group, Hezbollah said it fired various rocket barrages at Israel, targeting three Israeli military bases near Haifa, Safed and Tiberias.

It also said it had fired rockets at Israeli troops in the vicinity of two border villages, Markaba and Odaisseh. NNA alleged Israeli forces had used explosives to blow up buildings there and in a third village, Rab el-Thalathine.

Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom reported that one major concern for Israeli authorities in recent hours has been Safed in northern Israel, with reports of shrapnel falling in the area.

“Over the past couple of weeks, particularly in northern Israel, there have been large barrages of rockets from Lebanon against areas such as Safed and the major city of Haifa,” he said.

Haifa, a strategic city, is home to Israel’s main naval base. It hosts oil refineries and other military infrastructure and has a population of about 300,000.

“This is a major concern – the fact that rockets keep getting launched towards the north, and that some are making impact there,” Jamjoom said.