Israel attack on Hezbollah headquarters. Explosion felt within a radius of 30 kilometers

Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Friday that the military had carried out a “precision attack” on Hezbollah's headquarters in the capital Lebanon.

He stated that Hezbollah's headquarters were built under civilian buildings in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahije. A Reuters source in the Lebanese security apparatus confirmed that the Israeli air force struck the place where the leadership of the Lebanese-backed group was meeting. Iran organization.

A cloud of black smoke, visible from a distance, hovered over the city, the sound of the explosion was heard throughout the city, and the force of the explosion shook buildings within a 30-kilometer radius of the Lebanese capital, AP wrote.

Two people were killed and 76 injured in the airstrike, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported. It was noted that this is the first preliminary casualty count, and a rescue operation and search for survivors among the rubble is ongoing.

Qatar's Al-Jazeera television reports panic at the site of the attack. – This attack was different, it was not a precise airstrike like in recent days, but an unprecedented strike, many very loud explosions could be heard in succession – said the station's Beirut correspondent Zeina Khodr.

An entire quarter of buildings was damaged in the attack, six to nine residential buildings were completely or partially destroyed, Al-Jazeera reported. The station added that numerous rescue teams were dispatched to the site of the explosion. In turn, Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV reported that 15 rockets destroyed four buildings.

The Axios website reported, citing Israeli sources, that the target of the attack was Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah. The Israeli military is checking whether he was injured in the attack, it added. Reuters and AFP, citing sources close to Hezbollah, reported that the organization's leader was alive and “doing well.”

Reuters reported that the raid on the southern suburbs of Beirut was the largest attack on the Lebanese capital since the outbreak of the current conflict. Israel with Hezbollah.

The attack occurred shortly after the Israeli Prime Minister's speech Benjamin Netanyahu at the session of the General Assembly UN in New York, in which he announced that his country would attack Hezbollah until it achieved its war goals.

After the speech, Netanyahu met with the media, but left the press conference early after his press aide approached him to deliver some news, the Times of Israel website added.

It was later reported that the prime minister had approved the attack from his hotel room in New York and it was announced that Netanyahu had cut short his visit to USA and goes back to Israel.

The US did not take part in this operation and was not warned about it, said Sabrina Singh, spokeswoman for the US Department of Defense. She added that Israeli Defense Minister Joaw Galant spoke by phone with the defense secretary Lloyd Austinbut this happened after the operation had started, which “can hardly be considered a prior warning.”