BEIRUT, Lebanon β Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire Saturday as rescue crews in Beirut searched the rubble of an apartment building that was leveled by an Israeli airstrike that killed at least 37 people, including one of the militant group's senior leaders as well as women and children.
The Israeli government braced for an expected surge in Hezbollah rocket attacks by setting new caps on the size of gatherings and other restrictions in the north of the country, near Israel's border with Lebanon, that led to schools in some communities canceling classes Sunday.
Emergency workers use excavators to clear rubble Saturday at the site of the prior day's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs.
It wasn't immediately clear if anyone was killed or wounded in Saturday's back-and-forth attacks between Israel and Hezbollah. The Israeli military confirmed about 90 rockets were fired at northern Israel, and Israel struck more than 400 rocket launchers in Lebanon.
The Biden administration is taking a more hands-off approach than usual amid the past week's dramatic escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, with top U.S. officials holding back from full-on crisis diplomacy for fear of making matters worse.
The public restraint came amid Friday's airstrikes and earlier explosions of the militant group's pagers and walkie-talkies that killed at least 37 people, including two children, and wounded roughly 3,000 others.
Sajjan Gohel, the international security director at the Asia-Pacific Foundation, discusses Hezbollah's role in Lebanon and its influence on the country's Shia population amid escalating tensions with Israel.
The developments threaten to spur all-out war between Israel and its enemies in the Middle East and doom already faltering negotiations for a cease-fire in the Hamas conflict in Gaza.
The escalation came even as two Biden administration officials stopped in the region this past week to appeal for calm. It heightens the impression that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right government is paying ever less attention to the mediation efforts of its key ally, despite depending on the U.S. for weapons and military support.
βThe United States looks like a deer in the headlights right now,β said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Middle East Institute think tank in Washington. βIn terms of words, deeds and actionΒ β¦ it's not driving events, it's reacting to events.β
Israeli firefighters work at a house that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, near the city of Safed, northern Israel, on Saturday.
Friday'sΒ airstrikeΒ took down an eight-story building in a densely populated neighborhood in southern Beirut as Hezbollah members were meeting in the basement, according to Israel. Among those killed was Ibrahim Akil, a top Hezbollah official who commanded the group's special forces unit the Radwan Force. Also killed was Ahmed Wahbi, a top commander in the group's military wing, the Israeli military said.
Israel's defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said the attack, which came days after devastating coordinated attacks on Hezbollah that used exploding pagers and walkie-talkies, thwarted the group's chain of command while taking out Akil, who he said was responsible for Israeli deaths and who was on the U.S. wanted list for years.
"This is our commitment to the fallen and their loved ones. This is our commitment to the residents of the north. And this is a clear message to all those who seek to harm us," Gallant posted on X.
Hezbollah fighters carry the coffins of their comrades who were killed in Friday's Israeli strike, during their funeral procession in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday.
Lebanon's health minister, Firass Abiad, told reporters that at least seven women and three children were killed in Friday's airstrike. He said another 68 people were injured, including 15 who were hospitalized.
It was the deadliest strike on Beirut since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. The casualty count could grow, with 23 people still missing, a government official said.
Relatives of the victims react Saturday near the site of the prior day's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs.
Akil was wanted by the U.S. for years for his alleged role in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and the taking of American and German hostages in Lebanon in the 1980s.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan called Akil's death "a good outcome" and said he had "American blood on his hands" for the embassy attack.
Wahbi was described as a commander who played major roles within Hezbollah for decades and was imprisoned in an Israeli jail in southern Lebanon in 1984. Hezbollah said he was one of the "field commanders" during a 1997 ambush in southern Lebanon that left 12 Israeli troops dead.
Hezbollah announced overnight that 15 of its operatives were killed by Israeli forces. Meanwhile, the Israeli army spokesperson, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, said Saturday 16 Hezbollah fighters were killed in Friday's strike.
A car passes next to a fire after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit northern Israel on Saturday.
Expecting a surge in rocket attacks, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli defense spokesman, announced updated safety guidelines for areas north of Haifa, including caps on gatherings of 30 people in open spaces and 300 in enclosed spaces. Work and school can continue if people can reach protected areas in a timely manner.
Since students and teachers in some places wouldn't be able reach shelters in the required time, Sunday classes were canceled in at least two border regions.
Lebanon - September 21, 2024 Massive strikes carried by the Israeli army in Southern Lebanon.
Earlier this past week, Israel's security cabinet said stopping Hezbollah's attacks on the country's north, which would allow displaced residents to return to their homes, is now an official war goal, as Israel considers a wider military operation in Lebanon that could spark an all-out conflict. Israel since sent a powerful fighting force to its northern border.
Hezbollah says it will halt its strikes only when a cease-fire is reached in Gaza.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire since Hamas' Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel ignited the Israeli military's offensive in Gaza. Previous cross-border attacks largely struck areas in northern Israel that were evacuated and less-populated parts of southern Lebanon.
