• By Aditya Jha
  • Fri, 11 Oct 2024 08:29 AM (IST)
  • Source:JND

Lebanon Health Ministry has claimed that Israeli airstrikes on central Beirut on Thursday killed 22 people and injured 117. As per several reports, the target of the airstrike was Wafiq Safa, eliminated Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah's brother-in-law and a high-ranking security official of the militant group Hezbollah. 

This is the third time Israel has launched an airstrike on a city outside of the southern suburb of Dahieh. Israel repeatedly attacked the southern suburb of Dahieh, eliminating multiple Hezbollah commanders. Earlier, the USA warned Israel not to attack the densely populated regions of the city. The White House expressed its frustration too, for Israel not sharing their military plans with their key ally. 

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Later, Hezbollah also claimed that they had attacked Israel in retaliation. Warning sirens could be heard in the northern part of Israel, urging people to avoid going outside. However, Israel has claimed that several of the Hezbollah's drones were intercepted.

Israel Faces Heat For Attacks On Peacekeepers 

Earlier, according to the UN, two of the Vietnamese peacekeepers got injured in southern Lebanon when an Israeli tank fired at a watchtower. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) has claimed that an observation tower at a UN base in Naqoura was directly hit, causing the peacekeepers to fall. Many countries, including the US, have criticised Israel for this act and expressed their concerns.

“We are deeply concerned about reports that Israeli forces fired on two positions and a tower used by UN peacekeepers in Lebanon,” a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said. The UN has claimed that Israeli forces have struck the UN positions several times in the past few hours. The Israeli army is also accused of deliberately targeting the cameras and lights at the two other Unifil positions. 
Israel has warned the peacekeeping forces to change their current locations as they could obstruct Israel's ground invasion operation. 

Unifil was created in 1978 to monitor the wrongdoings and ensure humanitarian help to the civilians of southern Lebanon.