Rare Israeli Strike in Beirut Kills 7  10/03 06:07

   

   BEIRUT (AP) -- An Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut killed 
seven Hezbollah-affiliated civilian first responders. Israel has been pounding 
areas of the country where the militant group has a strong presence since late 
September, but has rarely struck in the heart of the capital.

   There was no warning before the strike late Wednesday, which hit an 
apartment in central Beirut not far from the United Nations headquarters, the 
prime minister's office and parliament. Hezbollah's civil defense unit said 
seven of its members were killed.

   The Lebanese Red Cross, meanwhile, said an Israeli strike killed four of its 
paramedics and a Lebanese army soldier as they were evacuating wounded people 
from the south. It said the convoy near the village of Taybeh, which was 
accompanied by Lebanese troops, was targeted Thursday despite coordinating its 
movements with U.N. peacekeepers.

   In a separate development, the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of 
villages and towns in southern Lebanon that are north of a United 
Nations-declared buffer zone established after the 2006 war. The warnings 
issued Thursday signaled a possible broadening of Israel's incursion into 
southern Lebanon, which until now has been confined to areas close to the 
border.

   At least eight Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes with Hezbollah in 
southern Lebanon, where Israel announced the start of what it says is a limited 
ground incursion earlier this week. The region was meanwhile bracing for 
Israeli retaliation following an Iranian ballistic missile attack.

   Residents reported a sulfur-like smell following strike in Beirut, and 
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency accused Israel of using phosphorous 
bombs, without providing evidence. Human rights groups have in the past accused 
Israel of using white phosphorus incendiary shells on towns and villages in 
southern Lebanon. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request 
for comment.

   Hezbollah has an armed wing with tens of thousands of fighters but it also 
has a political movement and a network of charities staffed by civilians.

   In a separate development, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they had 
launched two drones at Tel Aviv overnight. The military said it identified two 
drones off the coast of the bustling metropolitan area, shooting one of them 
down while the other fell in the Mediterranean Sea.

   The escalating violence in Lebanon has opened a second front in the war 
between Israel and Iran-backed militants that began nearly a year ago with 
Hamas' surprise Oct. 7 attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

   The Israeli military said Thursday that it killed a senior Hamas leader in 
an airstrike in the Gaza Strip around three months ago. It said that a strike 
on an underground compound in northern Gaza killed Rawhi Mushtaha and two other 
Hamas commanders.

   There was no immediate comment from Hamas. Mushtaha was a close associate of 
Yahya Sinwar, the top leader of Hamas who helped mastermind the Oct. 7 attack. 
Sinwar is believed to be alive and in hiding inside Gaza.

   In recent weeks, Israelis strikes in Lebanon have killed Hezbollah leader 
Hassan Nasrallah and several of his top commanders. Hundreds more airstrikes 
across large parts of Lebanon since mid-September have killed at least 1,276 
people, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

   The Israeli military said Thursday that it had struck around 200 Hezbollah 
targets across Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and observation 
posts. It said the strikes killed at least 15 Hezbollah fighters. There was no 
independent confirmation.

   Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, as Israel has warned 
people to evacuate from around 50 villages and towns in the south, telling them 
to relocate to areas that are around 60 kilometers (36 miles) from the border 
and considerably farther north than a U.N.-declared buffer zone.

   Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah after nearly a year of rocket attacks 
that began on Oct. 8 and have displaced some 60,000 Israelis from communities 
in the north. Israel has carried out retaliatory strikes over the past year 
that have displaced tens of thousands on the Lebanese side.

   The vast majority of recent strikes have been in areas where Hezbollah has a 
strong presence, including the southern suburbs of Beirut known as the Dahiyeh. 
But Israel has also carried out strikes in Palestinian refugee camps in 
Lebanon, and a strike in central Beirut earlier this week killed three 
Palestinian militants.

   Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are part of the Iran-led Axis of 
Resistance, which also includes armed groups in Syria and Iraq. They have 
launched attacks on Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians, drawing 
retaliation in a cycle that has repeatedly threatened to set off a wider war.

   The region once again appears on the brink of such a conflict after Iran's 
missile attack on Tuesday, which it said was a response to the killing of 
Nasrallah, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general who was with him, and Ismail 
Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, who was killed in an explosion in 
Tehran in July that was widely blamed on Israel.

   Both Israel and the United States have said there will be severe 
consequences for the missile attack, which lightly wounded two people and 
killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank. The United States has rushed 
military assets to the region in support of Israel.