Israel said it hit Hezbollah’s headquarters as powerful explosions rocked Beirut

BEIRUT (AP) — The Israeli military said Friday it carried out an airstrike on Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut, where a massive explosion leveled buildings in a southern district and sent clouds of orange and black smoke billowing into the sky.

The attack in the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the United Nations and vowed that Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah would continue. Shortly before the blast, thousands gathered in the suburb for the funeral of three Hezbollah members, including a top commander, who had been killed in previous attacks.

There was initially no information about the victims of the strike. Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the target was Hezbollah’s headquarters, located beneath residential buildings. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV reported that four buildings were reduced to rubble by the blast. The explosion was so powerful that windows rattled and houses around 30 kilometers north of Beirut shook. Ambulances were seen driving to the scene of the explosion with sirens blaring.

Earlier in the day, an Israeli airstrike killed a family of nine in a Lebanese border village, authorities said, as Lebanon grapples with a rising death toll, a wave of tens of thousands fleeing their homes and the possibility of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel dramatically stepped up its airstrikes in Lebanon this week, saying it was determined to end more than 11 months of Hezbollah fire on its territory. The scope of the Israeli operation remains unclear, but officials said a ground invasion to drive the militant group from the border was possible. Israel has moved thousands of troops toward the border in preparation.

At the United Nations, Netanyahu vowed to “continue to degrade” Hezbollah until Israel achieves its goals, further dampening hopes for an internationally backed ceasefire.

This is why the Lebanese fear a repeat of the last war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, which lasted a month and caused severe destruction in parts of their country. Or worse, they fear, Lebanon could suffer devastation on the same scale as that wrought in Gaza by Israel’s nearly year-long campaign against Hamas.

At least 25 people were killed in Israeli strikes early Friday, Health Minister Firass Abiad said, bringing Lebanon’s death toll to over 720 this week. He said dozens of women and children were among the dead.

The Israeli military said it carried out dozens of attacks in the south within two hours on Friday, including in the cities of Sidon and Nabatiyeh. It said it targeted Hezbollah rocket launchers and infrastructure. Hezbollah was said to have fired a volley of rockets at the northern Israeli city of Tiberias.