Israel bombards Hezbollah, killing a top commander, while families flee southern Lebanon

BEIRUT (AP) — Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander Tuesday as part of a two-day bombing campaign that has left more than 560 people dead and prompted thousands in southern Lebanon to seek refuge from the widening conflict. With the two sides on the brink of all-out war, Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets into Israel, including a longer-range projectile that set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and across central Israel. Hezbollah said it had fired a ballistic missile at the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, which it said was responsible for the targeted killing of its senior leaders. “We struggled a lot on the road just to get here,” said Baydoun, who rejected Israel’s contention that it hit only military targets. Israel said late Tuesday that fighter jets carried out “extensive strikes” on Hezbollah weapons and rocket launchers across southern Lebanon and in the Bekaa region to the north. Asked about the duration of Israel’s operations in Lebanon, military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a news conference that it aims to keep them “as short as possible, that’s why we’re attacking with great force. At the same time, we must be prepared for it to take longer.” Tensions between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have steadily escalated over the last 11 months. Hezbollah has been firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and its ally Hamas, a fellow Iran-backed militant group. Israel said a strike in Beirut Tuesday had killed Ibrahim Kobeisi, who it said was a top Hezbollah commander with the group’s rocket and missile unit. It was the latest in a string of assassinations and setbacks for Hezbollah, the strongest political and military actor in Lebanon and widely considered the top paramilitary force in the Arab world. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said six people were killed and 15 were wounded in the strike in a southern Beirut suburb, an area where Hezbollah has a strong presence. The U.N.’s High Commissioner for Refugees in Lebanon said one of its staffers and her young son were among those killed Monday in the Bekaa region, while a cleaner under contract was killed in a strike in the south. Hezbollah said its missile attacks Tuesday targeted eight sites in Israel, including an explosives factory in Zichron Yaakov, 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the border. It fired 300 rockets, injuring six soldiers and civilians, most of them lightly, according to Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman. The renewed exchange came after Monday’s barrages racked up the highest death toll in any single day in Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah fought a bruising monthlong war in 2006. (AP video/ Emad Hadad) On Tuesday, mourners carried 11 bodies through the streets of the Lebanese village of Saksakieh, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the Lebanon-Israel border, including those of four women, an infant and a 7-year-old girl. Mohammad Halal, father of 7-year-old Joury Halal, said his daughter was an “innocent child martyr.” “She is a martyr for the sake of the south and Palestine,” Halal said and defiantly stated his allegiance to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Data from American fire-tracking satellites analyzed Tuesday by The Associated Press showed the wide range of Israeli airstrikes aimed at southern Lebanon, covering an area of over 1,700 square kilometers (650 square miles). The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 564 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since Monday, including 50 children and 94 women, and that more than 1,800 have been wounded — a staggering toll for a country still reeling from a deadly attack on communication devices last week. Israel has vowed to do whatever it takes to ensure its citizens can return to their homes in the north, while Hezbollah has said it will keep up its rocket attacks until there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which appears increasingly remote. It says Hezbollah has some 150,000 rockets and missiles, including some capable of striking anywhere in Israel, and that the group has fired some 9,000 rockets and drones since last October. Israel said its warplanes struck 1,600 Hezbollah targets Monday, destroying cruise missiles, long- and short-range rockets and attack drones, including weapons concealed in private homes. Monday’s escalation came after a particularly heavy exchange of fire Sunday, when Hezbollah launched around 150 rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel. Last week, thousands of communications devices used mainly by Hezbollah members exploded in different parts of Lebanon, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000, many of them civilians. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://apnews.com/640a0046aceea1b5cfb395a54ff36bce