Israel claims airstrike targeted ‘senior Hezbollah operative’ in Lebanese capital

ISTANBUL

The Israeli army said Monday that it had launched an airstrike targeting a “senior Hezbollah operative” in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

According to an Anadolu correspondent, the strike hit the Madi neighborhood in southern Beirut.

No information was yet available about damage or possible casualties.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it conducted a “pinpoint” attack, claiming to have hit a “senior Hezbollah operative,” without revealing his identity or providing additional information.

There was no immediate comment from Lebanese authorities or Hezbollah on the airstrike.

This development comes hours after Israeli airstrikes targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern Lebanon, killing at least 31 and injuring 149, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Earlier, the Israeli army said that it had targeted Hezbollah sites across Lebanon in response to rocket fire launched by the group toward northern Israel.

For its part, Hezbollah said in a statement that it had targeted a military site in northern Israel with a barrage of rockets and a swarm of drones, in response to ongoing Israeli attacks on Lebanon and a joint US-Israeli military campaign on Iran that killed several senior Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

*Writing by Serdar Dincel