Israeli air attack on Beirut kills eight as cross-border fire intensifies

Lebanon’s health ministry says at least eight people have been killed and 59 wounded in an Israeli air attack on a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that five children were among the casualties from the attack on a building in Jamous Street, southern Beirut, on Friday.
The agency said that a F-35 jet hit the residential area with two attacks.
The Israeli military said it has carried out a “targeted strike” in the Lebanese capital, claiming to have hit near key Hezbollah facilities in Dahiyeh and killed top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil and other senior commanders of the Radwan special forces unit.
Aqil has a $7m bounty on his head from the United States over his link to the deadly bombing of Marines in Lebanon in 1983, according to the US State Department website.
Zein Basravi, reporting from Amman because Al Jazeera is banned in Israel by the government, said that the army has put out warnings to the Israeli people after the attack, saying everything is on the table and to be prepared.
“There are now renewed calls for people to stay near bomb shelters,” he added.
The Israeli attack marks the second time in less than two months that Israel has targeted a leading Hezbollah military commander in Beirut.
In July, an Israeli air strike killed Fuad Shukr, the group’s top military commander.
Rami Khoury, a professor at the American University of Beirut told Al Jazeera that “Israel is on “a rampage,” emboldened by the US’s unwavering support to “do anything they want”.
He said an escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah appears inevitable, but added that he does not believe an all-out regional war to be imminent.
Khoury reminded that Israel has long sought to defeat Hezbollah, which is better equipped than Hamas and has closer ties to Iran.
“The problem is it has tried this many times without success,” Khoury added.
Earlier on Friday, Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with about 170 rockets since the morning, a day after the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah promised to retaliate against Israel for a mass bombing attack, according to the updates from the Israeli military.
Approximately 150 rockets were fired before Israel’s attack on Beirut while some 20 were launched following the strike.
The Iran-backed group confirmed the attacks without giving numbers.
Israel’s military said the rockets came in multiple waves on Friday afternoon, targeting sites along the ravaged border with Lebanon.
Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have soared following two days of sabotage attacks blamed on Israel that set off explosives in thousands of communications devices, killing at least 37 people and injuring nearly 3,000 people, including civilians.
But Hezbollah said the rockets were in retaliation for Israeli attacks on villages and homes in southern Lebanon.
 
The Israeli military claimed the barrage of rockets caused no injuries and that rescue services were working to put out fires sparked by falling debris.
It listed the targeted areas as the occupied Golan Heights, the Upper Galilee region and the town of Safed.
Videos from northern Israel posted online showed rockets being intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome system, as sirens were heard in the background.
The military said its air defences took down some of the rockets, while others fell in open areas.
The incoming fire came after the Israeli military said it struck dozens of rocket launchers overnight that were ready for use against Israel.
For nearly a year, Hezbollah has engaged in near-daily exchanges of fire with Israeli forces along the Lebanon-Israel border in support of Hamas. Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border have also been forced to flee their homes due to the fighting.