Displaying items by tag: air strikes

For the second time in four days, Israel’s military have struck a Hezbollah target in Beirut. The precision airstrike, carried out by the air force, killed Hassan Ali Mahmoud Bdeir, a senior Hezbollah operative. According to Israel, he was orchestrating an imminent terror attack against civilians. The strike hit the top floors of an apartment building, killing at least three and wounding seven. Lebanese officials condemned the attack, calling it a violation of UN Resolution 1701 and an assault on Lebanese sovereignty. The president vowed to rally international support, while Hezbollah’s leadership placed responsibility on Lebanon’s government to respond diplomatically. The USA reiterated its support for Israel, claiming that it was operating in response to rocket attacks. Although Hezbollah denied launching the rockets, authorities have arrested thirteen suspects. The targeted strikes and political fallout highlight deepening regional instability and the increasing entanglement of Iranian-backed terror groups.

Humanitarian groups have accused Israeli forces of intentionally targeting them in Gaza, after the airstrike on 1 April on a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy. Seven aid workers, including three Britons, were killed in the airstrike. WCK had coordinated with the IDF through deconfliction, a process where agencies inform military parties of their locations and movements to avoid being targeted. Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident unintentional, and the IDF claimed it was due to misidentification. However, 203 aid workers have been killed since the conflict began, which creates a lot of mistrust in the deconfliction system. WCK founder José Andrés has claimed that the IDF is targeting them ‘systematically, car by car’, and said that workers from other groups such as UNRWA and the Red Cross had also been affected. The recurring strikes raise doubts about the effectiveness and integrity of coordination efforts, exacerbating tensions in the conflict zone. See also the UK article entitled ‘Legal experts call for halt in British arms exports to Israel’. Breaking news: Israel has announced that it will open two new aid routes.