Israel says it forewarned Beirut of Hezbollah strike yet gov't, army did not act
Israeli officials informed Lebanon of its intended strike on Hezbollah terror targets in Dahiyeh a week prior.
Beirut did not respond to Israel's forewarning that it planned to strike terror targets from Hezbollah's Aerial Unit in Dahiyeh, Israeli officials said on Saturday, according to a report from KAN.
Israel officials informed Lebanon of its intent to strike Hezbollah's Unit 127 drone infrastructure a week prior, KAN said, however, no response was taken by the Lebanese government or army.
The attack on Unit 127 took place on Thursday.
Israeli Air Force's "head of Lebanon affairs," intelligence officer Lieutenant Colonel N., had been tracking Hezbollah's Unit 127 for over two years. The unit is responsible for importing, manufacturing, and deploying various unmanned aerial vehicles (AUVs) from Lebanon into Israel.
"We hit seven targets: five in Beirut and two in southern Lebanon," Lt. Col. N. confirmed.
The IDF specifically targeted Al-Hadath, Haret Hreik, and Burj Al-Barajneh in the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahiyeh, as well as several specific buildings, IDF Arabic Spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on Thursday.
The sites were "deliberately established in the heart of the civilian population in the Dahiyeh area of Beirut," the IDF said.
Evacuation warnings were issued to Lebanese residents prior to the attack.
"The Lebanese government must disarm the terrorist organization in Hezbollah. You must ensure that the Lebanese army truly enforces the ceasefire agreement and not through coordinated displays," Defense Minister Israel Katz said in response to condemnations of the attack by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, KAN alleged.
The French Foreign Affairs Ministry condemned the attack in a post of Twitter/X on Friday, calling for "all the parties to abide by the ceasefire."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Lebanon aims to lure back wealthy Gulf tourists to jumpstart its war-torn economy
Now, after last year's bruising war with Israel, Hezbollah is much weaker and Lebanon's new political leaders sense an opportunity to revitalize the economy once again with help from wealthy neighbors. They aim to disarm Hezbollah and rekindle ties with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, which in recent years have prohibited their citizens from visiting Lebanon or importing its products. Advertisement 'Tourism is a big catalyst, and so it's very important that the bans get lifted,' said Laura Khazen Lahoud, the country's tourism minister. On the highway leading to the Beirut airport, once-ubiquitous banners touting Hezbollah's leadership have been replaced with commercial billboards and posters that read 'a new era for Lebanon.' In the center of Beirut, and especially in neighborhoods that hope to attract tourists, political posters are coming down, and police and army patrols are on the rise. Advertisement There are signs of thawing relations with some Gulf neighbors. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have lifted yearslong travel bans. All eyes are now on Saudi Arabia, a regional political and economic powerhouse, to see if it will follow suit, according to Lahoud and other Lebanese officials. A key sticking point is security, these officials say. Although a ceasefire with Israel has been in place since November, near-daily airstrikes have continued in southern and eastern Lebanon, where Hezbollah over the years had built its political base and powerful military arsenal. As vital as tourism is — it accounted for almost 20% of Lebanon's economy before it tanked in 2019 — the country's leaders say it is just one piece of a larger puzzle they are trying to put back together. Lebanon's agricultural and industrial sectors are in shambles, suffering a major blow in 2021, when Saudi Arabia banned their exports after accusing Hezbollah of smuggling drugs into Riyadh. Years of economic dysfunction have left the country's once-thriving middle class in a state of desperation. The World Bank says poverty nearly tripled in Lebanon over the past decade, affecting close to half its population of nearly 6 million. To make matters worse, inflation is soaring, with the Lebanese pound losing 90% of its value, and many families lost their savings when banks collapsed. Tourism is seen by Lebanon's leaders as the best way to kickstart the reconciliation needed with Gulf countries -- and only then can they move on to exports and other economic growth opportunities. Advertisement 'It's the thing that makes most sense, because that's all Lebanon can sell now,' said Sami Zoughaib, research manager at The Policy Initiative, a Beirut-based think tank. With summer still weeks away, flights to Lebanon are already packed with expats and locals from countries that overturned their travel bans, and hotels say bookings have been brisk. At the event hosted last month by the tourism ministry, the owner of the St. Georges Hotel, Fady El-Khoury, beamed. The hotel, owned by his father in its heyday, has acutely felt Lebanon's ups and downs over the decades, closing and reopening multiple times because of wars. 'I have a feeling that the country is coming back after 50 years,' he said. On a recent weekend, as people crammed the beaches of the northern city of Batroun, and jet skis whizzed along the Mediterranean, local business people sounded optimistic that the country was on the right path. 'We are happy, and everyone here is happy,' said Jad Nasr, co-owner of a private beach club. 'After years of being boycotted by the Arabs and our brothers in the Gulf, we expect this year for us to always be full.' Still, tourism is not a panacea for Lebanon's economy, which for decades has suffered from rampant corruption and waste. Lebanon has been in talks with the International Monetary Fund for years over a recovery plan that would include billions in loans and require the country to combat corruption, restructure its banks, and bring improvements to a range of public services, including electricity and water. Without those and other reforms, Lebanon's wealthy neighbors will lack confidence to invest there, experts said. A tourism boom alone would serve as a 'morphine shot that would only temporarily ease the pain' rather than stop the deepening poverty in Lebanon, Zoughaib said. Advertisement The tourism minister, Lahoud, agreed, saying a long-term process has only just begun. 'But we're talking about subjects we never talked about before,' she said. 'And I think the whole country has realized that war doesn't serve anyone, and that we really need our economy to be back and flourish again.'
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Iran Claims Access to Cache of Sensitive Israeli Nuclear Files
Iran's state television said on Saturday the country obtained a large trove of sensitive Israeli nuclear information. The Islamic Republic's intelligence services have acquired 'thousands of files related to that regime's nuclear projects and facilities,' according to the broadcaster.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ms Rachel says she'll risk career to advocate for children in Gaza
Ms Rachel, the children's entertainer and educator whose YouTube videos have been watched by millions of families around the world, said she is willing to risk her career to keep advocating for suffering children in Gaza. In an interview with WBUR, a Boston-based public radio station, Ms Rachel, whose full name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, said she had received pushback for speaking out to raise awareness of the situation in Gaza, where more than 54,000 people have been killed in Israel's ongoing military assault. But Accurso said she would continue to advocate for children's safety. Related: Gaza's youngest influencer aged 11 among children killed by Israeli strikes 'I wouldn't be Ms Rachel if I didn't deeply care about all kids. And I would risk everything, and I will risk my career over and over to stand up for them. It's all about the kids for me,' Accurso told WBUR. The UN has described Gaza as 'the hungriest place on Earth', and warned that the Palestinian territory's entire population is at risk of famine. Accurso said she had recently met with Palestinian women whose children were suffering in Gaza. 'When you sit with a mother who's FaceTiming her boys in Gaza who don't have food, and you see that anguish and you are there with her, it really moves you – I'm sorry to get emotional – to do everything you can for her,' she said. 'And of course, you say: 'I need to do more. What can I do to help?' I do have a big platform, and I look at it as a responsibility.' In April, a pro-Israel group urged the US attorney general to investigate Accurso over her messaging about children suffering in Gaza, and Accurso has been criticized by rightwing media and commentators. Asked about the criticism, Accurso said: 'It's really painful. And I have to remind myself that people don't know my heart, and people try to tell you who you are, but you know who you are. And I know how deeply and equally I care for all children, and I do lean on my faith in that situation. 'I care so deeply about every child. As a teacher, you have children from many different places, especially in New York City, and you care exactly the same about them. That's the basis of everything for me, is that children are equal, that they all deserve everything they need to thrive.' Accurso said in May 2024 that she had faced 'bullying' after launching a fundraiser for children in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In April of this year, Accurso donated $1m to World Food Program USA, which provides meals for starving people in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and 11 other impoverished countries, after the Trump administration said it would end funding to the program.
