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Israel pounds south Beirut, says captured Hezbollah members / Photo: © AFP
Israel pounds south Beirut, says captured Hezbollah members
A series of strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs on Monday and early Tuesday, the first attack on the Hezbollah stronghold in days, as Israel's military said it captured two members of the Iran-backed group in southern Lebanon.
An earlier Israeli strike hit the upscale, predominantly Christian area of Hazmieh near Beirut, with Israel saying it targeted a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations arm.
AFPTV's live broadcast showed clouds of smoke over the capital's southern suburbs, and Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported a series of strikes on the area, with low Israeli warplanes heard across Beirut and its surroundings.
The Israeli military also announced it was "striking Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut" after having called on residents to leave the southern suburbs beforehand.
Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an Israeli-US attack.
Israel has since launched strikes across Lebanon, killing at least 1,039 people, and sent ground troops into the country's south.
In a statement on Monday, the Israeli army said that "during an activity to locate weapons in southern Lebanon, (Israeli) troops identified several armed Hezbollah Radwan Force terrorists who were planning to fire an anti-tank missile", referring to the group's commando force.
"After being identified, the terrorists surrendered. They were apprehended by the troops and transferred to Israeli territory for further questioning," it added.
The Israeli military told AFP two Hezbollah members were captured.
Hezbollah, for its part, announced more than 50 attacks targeting Israeli troops and bases in northern Israel and southern Lebanon, particularly in the border coastal town of Naqura.
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) announced Monday that its headquarters in Naqura had been hit by a projectile, probably launched by a "non-state actor".
Elsewhere in the south, the NNA reported several Israeli strikes.
Early on Tuesday, the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for two coastal towns near the southern city of Tyre.
- Strike near Beirut -
The Israeli strike on Hazmieh killed at least one person, according to Lebanon's health ministry.
The upmarket area, overlooking Beirut and adjacent to the presidential palace, houses diplomatic missions, government offices and luxurious residential buildings.
The Israeli military said it had "struck an IRGC Quds Force terrorist in Beirut", referring to the foreign operations arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
Mayor Jean Asmar told journalists at the scene that the strike targeted a room inside an apartment rented by a displaced family.
Asmar said the attack forced the municipality to take new measures regarding hosting people displaced by the war, "so that this incident is not repeated".
Israel had previously struck the area on March 5, though it was not clear who the target was. It said another strike in central Beirut days later killed five people, including three Quds Force commanders.
Iran accused Israel of killing four of its diplomats in that attack.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Sunday told the Al Hadath network that Iran's Revolutionary Guards were "unfortunately... managing the military operation in Lebanon".
- 'Only just begun' -
The two Hezbollah members captured in the south were the latest additions to a list of Lebanese who have been held in Israel since the last war between it and the group.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hussein al-Hajj Hassan said in January that Israel was holding "20 Lebanese prisoners", alleging 10 had been abducted "inside Lebanese territory after the ceasefire" that sought to end the previous conflict in 2024.
The next month, Israeli forces seized a member of the Hamas-allied Jamaa Islamiya in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli army's Arabic-language spokesperson Ella Waweya said on Monday "the battle against Hezbollah... has only just begun".
In a video statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country will "continue to strike both in Iran and in Lebanon".
Israel earlier struck a bridge linking areas in southern Lebanon to the Bekaa Valley in the east of the country, a day after a major bridge in the Tyre region was targeted.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday he and Netanyahu had instructed the military to "destroy all the bridges over the Litani River that are used for terrorist activity".
A. de Almeida--JDB
