The IDF has carried out eight waves of airstrikes in Beirut's Dahieh district throughout Saturday, according to Hezbollah-affiliated media, as Israel ramps up its attacks on the Hezbollah stronghold. This comes in the backdrop of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group confirming two of their commanders were eliminated in a strike near Damascus that took place on Thursday.
Lebanese reports indicated that Israeli airstrikes have intensified in Dahieh, with multiple hits reported within minutes of each other. Local media has claimed that the scope of the destruction in the southern Beirut suburb is reminiscent of the 2006 Lebanon War.
Strikes in Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut
One strike reportedly targeted the headquarters of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council in the Harat Hreik neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Lebanese media reported civilian casualties from strikes in various locations. Seven people, including five children, were reportedly killed in an attack on the village of Al-Kharbatha in the Bekaa Valley. In Nabatieh, the death toll from a separate strike rose to five. In Tyre, an airstrike targeting a motorcyclist killed one person and injured another.
In a statement, IDF Arabic-language spokesperson Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee urged residents of 15 villages in southern Lebanon, many of whom have already fled, to evacuate immediately. Adraee warned that the IDF would target areas used by Hezbollah for military operations.
At noon, the IDF confirmed additional strikes on southern Lebanon, including rocket launch sites used for attacks on Israel. Over the past day, Israel has attacked more than 160 targets in Lebanon and Gaza, including weapons depots, command centers and launchers, the military said.
The Lebanese National News Agency claimed that Israeli forces seized a strategic hill in the village of Shaam, five kilometers from the border, before allegedly destroying a shrine and several homes and later withdrawing. The IDF did not confirm the report.
These developments come as Israel pushes deeper into southern Lebanon, with ground forces reportedly advancing to the second line of villages along the border. According to Lebanese media, a firefight occurred at the farthest point reached by Israeli troops in six weeks of ground operations.
Meanwhile, rocket fire from Lebanon continued, with the IDF reporting over 35 launches toward northern Israel, including Safed and the Haifa Bay area. Most rockets fell in unpopulated areas or were intercepted. Damage was reported to agricultural structures near Tamra, where livestock were killed and vehicles damaged.
Following the intense fighting in Lebanon, two senior Islamic Jihad figures were killed in an Israeli strike on Syria on Thursday, a source from the Palestinian terror group which has fought against Israel in Gaza alongside Hamas told AFP on Saturday.
The source said that Abdel Aziz Minawi, a member of Islamic Jihad's political bureau, and the group's foreign relations chief Rasmi Abu Issa were killed in the strike on Qudsaya, in the Damascus area.
The strike that took place on Thursday targeted military complexes and Islamic Jihad headquarters at several locations in Damascus and the surrounding countryside. Official Syrian news agency SANA reported of a strike in the Mazzeh neighborhood and later in Qudsaya. The Syrian Defense Ministry reported 15 fatalities and 16 injuries following the strikes.
"Air Force fighter jets, under the direction of IDF Northern Command, struck multiple military structures and Islamic Jihad headquarters in Syria," The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit reported shortly after the strike.
"The strike dealt a significant blow to the organization’s headquarters and its operatives. The Islamic Jihad, led by its heads outside the Gaza Strip, carried out the deadly October 7 attack alongside Hamas and has been orchestrating terror activities against the State of Israel since,” it added.
Israeli strikes in Damascus
According to the Syrian Defense Ministry's official statement released on Thursday, "At around 3:20 p.m., Israel targeted residential buildings in the Mazzeh neighborhood and the Qudsaya area in rural Damascus. Fifteen were killed and 16 were injured
According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, the strikes on Thursday in and around Damascus killed 23 people.
SANA noted that the strike targeted two residential buildings, while the opposition-affiliated Syrian news site Voice of the Capital reported an apartment was hit in the area.
According to reports, the attack took place while Ali Larijani, an advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was visiting Damascus on a "special political mission," as reported by the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen outlet.
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