Israel said it will not stop

A senior Hezbollah commander was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs yesterday, the Israeli military and two security sources in Lebanon said, in a sharp escalation of conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group.

The Israeli military said Ibrahim Akil, who served in Hezbollah's top military body, was acting commander of the elite Radwan unit and was killed along with ten other senior commanders of the unit.

A security source in Lebanon told Reuters that Akil was killed with members of the Radwan unit while they were holding a meeting. According to data from the Lebanese Ministry of Health, at least nine people were killed and 59 wounded in the attack.

Yesterday's attack was another blow to Hezbollah after the group suffered heavy casualties earlier this week, when pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded, killing 37 people and injuring thousands.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said yesterday that Israel will not stop after the attack on senior commanders in Beirut. "The sequence of actions in the new phase will continue until our goal is achieved: the safe return of northerners to their homes," he announced on the X network.

This is the second time in less than two months that Israel has targeted a senior Hezbollah military commander in Beirut. In July, Fuad Shukr, the group's chief military commander, was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Like Shukr, Akil is a veteran of Hezbollah, and was a member of Hezbollah's highest military body, the Jihad Council.

The United States has announced a $7 million reward for Achilles' head, according to the website of the US State Department.

The US accuses him of a role in the April 1983 truck bombings of the US Embassy in Beirut, which killed 63 people, and the US Marine barracks six months later, which killed 241 people. They also accused him of organizing the kidnapping of American and German hostages in Lebanon, and in 2019 the US declared him a "specially designated global terrorist".

After the attack in Beirut, the Israeli army announced that warning sirens sounded in the north of Israel, while Israeli media reported intense rocket fire in the north of the country.

Hezbollah announced that it had fired Kachusha rockets at what it said was the main intelligence headquarters in northern Israel "responsible for the assassinations."

Yesterday, US President Joe Biden, responding to a question about the impact of the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, said "we must ensure that people in the north of Israel, as well as in the south of Lebanon, can return to their homes safely". He also said that reaching a cease-fire agreement in Gaza is still realistic, stressing to reporters: "We have to get on with it."

John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, said he was not aware that Israel had notified the US in advance of the attack in Beirut, adding that Americans are strongly advised not to travel to Lebanon or leave it if they are already there.

"War is not inevitable on the Blue Line and we will do everything in our power to prevent it," Kirby said, referring to the border between Lebanon and Israel.

Eyewitnesses told Reuters they heard the sound of fighter jets over Beirut at the time of the attack, and a plume of smoke could be seen rising from the affected area.

The footage shows a seriously damaged building, a street covered in rubble and burnt cars.

The conflict, fueled by the war in Gaza, intensified significantly this week. On Thursday night, the Israeli military launched its most intensive airstrikes on southern Lebanon since the conflict began nearly a year ago.

The current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is the worst since the 2006 war. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes on both sides of the border.

Although the conflict has largely been confined to areas on or near the border, this week's escalation has heightened concerns that the conflict could spread and further intensify.

The Israeli army announced that the Chief of General Staff, General Herzi Halevi, met with the head of the Northern Command and other divisional commanders earlier yesterday.

Israeli media announced that the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, has postponed his trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly by one day due to the current situation and will arrive on Wednesday.

The Iranian embassy in Lebanon announced that it "strongly condemns the Israeli madness that crossed all borders by targeting residential buildings in the southern suburbs of Beirut."

The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon said yesterday that the attack in Beirut is "another alarming escalation of the conflict" in the region.

Investigation due to footage of Israeli soldiers throwing bodies from the roof

Israel's military said yesterday it had opened an investigation after videos were released showing soldiers throwing what are believed to be the bodies of those killed in action against Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank from the roof of a building.

The footage, which began circulating online on Thursday, shows three soldiers on the roof of a building in the city of Kabati pulling, pushing, throwing and, in one case, kicking bodies off the edge of the roof.

Zakaria Zakarneh, the uncle of one of the men, said he saw what happened. Israeli soldiers went to the roof after the Palestinians were killed, he told Reuters.

"They tried to move the bodies with a bulldozer, but that didn't work, so they threw them from the second floor to the ground," he said. "I was in pain, very sad and angry because I couldn't do anything," he added.

Reuters was able to confirm the location of the video in Kabati and confirm the date based on eyewitness accounts and local Palestinian media footage showing the same scene.

The Israeli army said in a statement that the incident was serious and not in line with its values.

The US said it was aware of the footage and immediately contacted Israeli authorities, who promised to investigate and determine responsibility.

“We find it deeply disturbing. If it is proven to be authentic, then it clearly shows the disgusting and shocking behavior of professional soldiers," John Kirby said yesterday.