Israeli Airstrikes Rock Southern Suburbs Of Beirut And Cut Off A Key Crossing Into Syria

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) AP

Beirut: Israel carried out a series of massive airstrikes overnight, hitting suburbs of Beirut and cutting off the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria for tens of thousands of people fleeing Israeli bombardment.

The blasts in Beirut's southern suburbs sent huge plumes of smoke and flames into the night sky and shook buildings kilometers (miles) away in the Lebanese capital.

The Israeli military did not comment on what the intended target was, and there was no information yet available on casualties.

Lebanon's National News Agency reported there were more than 10 consecutive airstrikes in the area.

The Israeli military also said Friday that a strike in Beirut the day before killed Mohammed Rashid Skafi, the head of Hezbollah's communications division.

Thursday's strike along the Lebanon-Syria border, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Beirut, led to the closure of the road near the busy Masnaa Border Crossing.

Hezbollah is believed to have received much of its weaponry from Iran via Syria. The group has a presence on both sides of the border, a region where it has been fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces.

Associated Press video footage showed two huge craters on each side of the road. People got out of cars, unable to pass the site of the strike, carrying bags of their possessions as they crossed on foot.

People fleeing Israeli bombardment in Lebanon, walk around a crater caused by an Israeli strike, in the area of Masnaa on the Lebanese side of the border crossing with Syria, on October 4, 2024. Photo by HASSAN JARRAH / AFP.

Tens of thousands of people fleeing war in Lebanon have crossed into Syria over the past two weeks.

The new wave of strikes came after Israel warned people to evacuate communities in southern Lebanon, including but also beyond an area that the United Nations declared a buffer zone after Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in 2006.

Israel launched a ground incursion into Lebanon on Tuesday and its forces have been clashing with Hezbollah militants in a narrow strip along the border.

A series of attacks before the incursion killed some of the group's key members, including longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived Friday in Beirut for meetings with Lebanese officials.

Iran's Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi gives a press conference after his meeting with Lebanon's parliament speaker in Beirut on October 4, 2024. Photo by AFP.

He warned that if Israeli carries out an attack on Iran, Tehran would retaliate in a harsh way.

Araghchi's visit to Beirut came three days after Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel, the latest in a series of rapidly escalating attacks from both sides that threaten to push the Middle East closer to a regionwide war.

"If the Israeli entity takes any step or measure against us, our retaliation will be stronger than the previous one,” Araghchi said after meeting Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Iran is Hezbollah's main backer and has sent weapons and billions of dollars to the group over the years.

In the Iranian capital, Tehran, the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led Friday prayers and delivered a speech where he praised the country's recent missile strike on Israel and said Iran was prepared to conduct more strikes if needed.

He spoke to thousands of people at the capital's main prayer site, the Mosalla mosque, which was decorated with a huge Palestinian flag.

A handout picture provided by the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's office shows an aerial view of a large crowd gathered as he delivers the sermon for the Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran on October 4, 2024. Photo by KHAMENEI / AFP.

The strike at the main border crossing was the first time it has been cut since the beginning of the war.

Lebanese General Security recorded 256,614 Syrian citizens and 82,264 Lebanese citizens crossing into Syrian territory between Sept. 23 - when Israel launched a heavy bombardment of southern and eastern Lebanon - and Sept. 30.

There are half a dozen border crossings between the two countries and most of them remain open.

Lebanon's minister of public works said all border crossings between Lebanon and Syria work under the supervision of the state.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it carried out a strike Thursday in Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, in coordination with the Shin Bet internal security service.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said 18 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a refugee camp there.

Graphic content / Mourners pray by the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Tulkarem refugee camp the previous night, during their funeral procession at the camp in the occupied West Bank on October 4, 2024. Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP.

Violence has flared across the Israeli-occupied territory since the war erupted in October 2023.

Tulkarem and other northern cities have seen some of the worst violence.

Israel declared war on Gaza Strip since Oct. 7 attack.

More than 41,000 Palestinians have since been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.

Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in that time, most of them since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Israel's military said Friday that militants in Gaza fired two rockets into Israeli territory, the first time Israel has seen rocket fire from Gaza in about a month.

The military said one of the rockets was intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system and the other fell in an open area near a kibbutz across the border from Gaza.

The number of rockets fired from Gaza into Israel has slowed considerably since the start of the war.

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