Israel carries out several strikes on Lebanese villages
We’re getting reports from our Lebanon correspondent Zeina Khodr that Israel launched “near simultaneous air strikes” on a number of Lebanese villages near the border.
The attacks came “shortly after reports of a strike targeting a car in the southern city of Sidon”, about 40km (25 miles) south of Beirut, Khodr said.
Israel carries out near simultaneous airstrikes on a number of frontline villages … and shortly after reports of a strike targeting a car in the southern city of Sidon - 40 km south of Beirut #Lebanon
— Zeina Khodr (@ZeinakhodrAljaz) August 9, 2024
Israel striking ‘deeper into Lebanon’
Reporting from Marjayoun in southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig says the Israeli drone attack on a car near Sidon comes amid a busy day of cross-border attacks. At least one person has been killed in the attack.
“Sidon is roughly just over 50km [31 miles] from Lebanon’s southern border and around 40km [25 miles] from the capital, Beirut, and what it shows is that Israel is going deeper into Lebanon,” Baig said.
He noted that the strike is also “quite significant” because observers are expecting the Lebanese group Hezbollah to launch a retaliatory attack on Israel for the Israeli military’s assassination of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut late last month.
“Elsewhere, there have been strikes carried out by Israel across southern Lebanon,” Baig added.
Hezbollah claims ‘direct hit’ on Israeli soldiers
The Lebanese group says it struck buildings housing Israeli soldiers “with the appropriate weapons”. In a statement on Telegram, Hezbollah said the soldiers were stationed in the “Dovev Barracks”.
It said the raid was in response to the Israeli army’s attacks on towns and villages in southern Lebanon and in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
Hamas official killed in Israeli attack in Lebanon’s Sidon: Reports
Civil defence workers check a car that was hit by an Israeli air attack in the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon on August 9
Lebanon’s official news agency, NNA, and Reuters are reporting that the attack in southern Lebanon has killed Hamas official Samer al-Hajj. Al-Hajj was based in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh near the coastal Lebanese city.
The strike also injured two civilians, NNA reported.
Impromptu protests have broken out in Sidon to denounce the killing.
Israel confirms it killed Hamas member in Lebanon’s Sidon
The Israeli military says it targeted al-Hajj, who we reported earlier was killed in the attack in the southern Lebanese coastal city. The army accused al-Hajj of being “responsible for the recruitment and training of terrorists to attack the State of Israel”.
Iran’s Khamenei orders IRGC to ‘harshly punish’ Israel: Report
Ali Fadavi, a commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has said Iran is set to carry out an order by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to “harshly punish” Israel over the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, according to a report in Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.
“The supreme leader’s orders regarding the harsh punishment of Israel and revenge for the blood of martyr Ismail Haniyeh are clear and explicit … and they will be implemented in the best possible way,” Fadavi was quoted as saying.
