At least 2 killed, dozens injured in Israeli airstrikes on Beirut, fate of Hezbollah chief unclear

At least two people were killed and 76 injured by several Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Lebanese Health Ministry said Friday.

The ministry added this was a preliminary casualty count. Rescuers continue to search through the rubble and the ministry “expects the casualty count to rise in the coming hours”.

Six buildings were completely destroyed by several Israeli strikes, state news agency NNA reported. Video from the immediate aftermath of the explosion showed a massive crater that dwarfed the rescuers navigating the rubble nearby.

Images of the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut suggest 2,000-pound bombs were used.

Lebanon’s Health Minister, Firass Abiad, said there had been a “complete decimation” of four to six residential buildings as a result of the Israeli strikes on Beirut on Friday.

Abiad told the New York Times that the number of casualties in hospitals was low so far because people were still trapped under the rubble, adding, “They are residential buildings. They were filled with people. Whoever is in those buildings is now under the rubble.”

Israeli officials claim Nasrallah was the target of the raid in the Lebanese capital Beirut, stating the Israeli military is working to verify whether he was killed in the attack.

When asked whether the Hezbollah leader is alive or dead following a massive Israeli strike in Beirut, a Lebanese security official told CNN: “We wait.”

But, citing a source close to the group, Reuters reported that Nasrallah is alive. A close source to Hezbollah also told AFP that the resistance leader is “fine”.

Najib Mikati, the caretaker Prime Minister of Lebanon, stressed that the Israeli attack on Beirut shows that Tel Aviv “does not care” about global calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon.

The raid marked a major escalation by Israel, which has been gradually expanding deadly strikes on Lebanon in recent days.

Last week, thousands of pagers and other devices exploded in Lebanon. At least 37 people were killed and more than 3,000 were wounded in the blasts. At least 45 people, including top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil and other senior commanders of the Radwan special forces unit, were also killed and dozens more wounded in an Israeli air raid in Beirut last Friday.

Then on Monday, Israel began launching hundreds of air strikes that have killed more than 700 people across Lebanon this week, including children and women.

Additionally, more than 118,000 people have been displaced, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). However, Lebanon’s minister in charge of the crisis response estimates that the actual number of displaced people is more than 250,000.

Hezbollah has responded with rocket and missile attacks on a number of sites across the occupied territories.

On Thursday, Tel Aviv rejected a US and French proposal for a temporary 21-day truce between Hezbollah and Israel.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Israel will fight until “total victory” in its continuing war on the Gaza Strip and promised to continue attacks on Hezbollah, as hopes faded for a ceasefire that could head off an all-out regional war.

Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed more than 41,500 Palestinians and wounded more than 96,000 others since October 7, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.