Israel attacks Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut attack: senior US official

Israel targeted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on Friday, according to a senior US official. According to the official, Nasrallah and some of his lieutenants were in Beirut at the time of the attack and made a brief visit.

Israel told the United States it would target Nasrallah less than an hour before that attack, the official said.

It is unclear whether the strike was successful.

A huge cloud of smoke was seen over a residential area of ​​Beirut on Friday as Israel claimed it hit Hezbollah's central headquarters in the city.

“Just moments ago, the Israel Defense Forces carried out a precise attack on the central headquarters of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which served as the epicenter of Hezbollah terror,” the IDF said in a statement, accusing Hezbollah of deliberately building the headquarters amid civilian infrastructure have .

“Hezbollah's central headquarters was deliberately constructed beneath residential buildings in the heart of Dahia in Beirut as part of Hezbollah's strategy to use Lebanese people as human shields,” the IDF said.

Exchanges between Israel and Lebanon continued on Thursday. More than 700 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since Monday, according to Lebanese officials.

According to the United Nations, more than 118,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon since Monday

“The relentless airstrikes have displaced tens of thousands from the south, the southern suburbs of Beirut and the Bekaa region to safer locations in Beirut, Lebanon and the north,” the United Nations said in a statement on Friday. “Movements peaked on both Monday and Tuesday, causing traffic jams and chaos. They continued at a slower pace as many people are still looking for homes and shelter.”

A rocket was fired at a neighborhood in Beirut on Thursday, according to a video released by the Israeli military. The military said the head of a Hezbollah air force, Mohammad Surur, was killed in the attack, which hit a suburb in southern Beirut.

Israeli authorities said at least 19 people were also injured after a rocket fired by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels was intercepted over central Israel late Thursday.

In a speech to the United Nations on Friday, Netanyahu sought to drum up international support as Israeli officials said they were planning a possible ground invasion of Lebanon.

French President Emmanuel Macron called the number of civilian casualties from Israeli attacks in recent days “absolutely shocking” and called on both Israel and Hezbollah to stop attacks across the border.

France is “against Lebanon becoming Gaza again,” said Macron.

Responding to Netanyahu's comments on Thursday in which the Israeli prime minister signaled he was unwilling to agree to a ceasefire, Macron said he did not consider those comments final.

“We will continue our contact and close coordination with our American partners, all our mobilized partners, including Canada, and through communication with the Israelis themselves, we will do everything we can to ensure that this proposal is adopted,” Macron said.

In his speech on Thursday to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib renewed his calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon amid fears that Israel is preparing for a ground invasion.