More than 250,000 Syrians and 82,000 Lebanese have fled across the border into Syria during the past two weeks to escape escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
An Israeli Apache attack helicopter has been seen firing missiles towards the Lebanese border, followed by smoke rising from southern Lebanon.
That comes on the same day the Israeli military (IDF) carried out another series of overnight air strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah’s central intelligence headquarters around midnight. It did not say who it was aiming for or if any militants were killed in that strike but it claimed to have killed 100 Hezbollah fighters in the last 24 hours.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported more than 10 consecutive strikes in the area.
Around 1,400 Lebanese, including Hezbollah fighters and civilians, have been killed and some 1.2 million driven from their homes since Israel ramped up its aerial campaign in September, aiming to cripple Hezbollah and push it away from the countries’ shared border.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah launched around 100 rockets into Israel on Friday, the Israel military said.
Israeli ground offensive
Israel launched its ground operation in Lebanon on Tuesday and its forces have been clashing with Hezbollah militants in a narrow strip along the border.
Israel has vowed to put an end to Hezbollah fire into northern Israel, after nearly a year of exchanges between the two sides that drove tens of thousands of people from their homes on both sides of the border.
Israeli Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters Friday that the ground operations were limited, aimed at rooting out Hezbollah militants and making the border safe for northern residents of Israel to return to their homes.
“First of all, our mission is to make sure they’re [Hezbollah] not there,” Shoshani said.
“Afterwards we will talk about how we make sure they don’t come back.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who was in Beirut on Friday to meet Lebanese officials, warned that if Israel carries out an attack on Iran, Tehran would retaliate more powerfully than it did this week when it launched at least 180 missiles into Israel in retaliation for Israeli strikes on Hezbollah.
The missile barrage amid a series of rapidly escalating attacks has threatened to push the Middle East closer to a regional war.
“If the Israeli entity takes any step or measure against us, our retaliation will be stronger than the previous one,” Araghchi said.
The strikes on Beirut come as the main road connecting Lebanon and Syria was damaged in an Israeli air strike, creating a new obstacle for the thousands of people trying to flee the escalating hostilities.
ADVERTISEMENTThe dawn strike about 50 kilometres east of the capital Beirut led to the closure of the road near the busy Masnaa Border Crossing, the first time it has been cut off since Hezbollah and Israel began trading fire almost a year ago.
Hezbollah supply lines
Israel said it targeted the crossing because it was being used by Hezbollah to transport military equipment across the border.
Hezbollah is believed to have received much of its weaponry through Syria from Iran, its main backer.
More than 250,000 Syrians and 82,000 Lebanese have fled across the border into Syria during the past two weeks.
ADVERTISEMENTHezbollah began firing into Israel the day after the Hamas attack on southern Israel on 7 October, in which the militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage.
Since then, Israel’s campaign in Gaza in retaliation has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, just over half them women and children, according to local health officials.
US strikes on Yemen
And the US military struck several Houthi targets in Yemen on Friday, going after weapons systems, bases and other equipment belonging to the Iranian-backed rebels.
US aircraft and ships struck Houthi strongholds, according to an unnamed American official.
ADVERTISEMENTAccording to the Houthi media, seven strikes hit the airport in Hodeidah, a major port city, and the Katheib area, which has a Houthi-controlled military base.
Four more strikes hit the Seiyana area in Sanaa, the capital, and two strikes hit the Dhamar province.
The strikes come just days after the Houthis threatened “escalating military operations” targeting Israel after they apparently shot down a US military drone flying over Yemen.