Hezbollah chief probably wounded in Beirut strike, Israel shoots down drones as Yom Kippur is underway

A senior Hezbollah determine was reportedly wounded in Israel’s lethal strike on central Beirut — as Israel marked Yom Kippur beneath siege.

Wafiq Safa, the chief of the Hezbollah Liaison and Coordination Unit, was supposedly in important situation following the Thursday night strike, the Instances of Israel stated, citing a report from Sky Information Arabia.

The Israeli army was concentrating on Safa when it launched a barrage on the Lebanese capital, which killed a minimum of 22 folks and wounded over 100 others.

Israel didn’t subject evacuation warnings forward of the strikes and had not beforehand attacked town, which is faraway from Beirut’s southern suburbs the place Hezbollah’s headquarters have been repeatedly bombed by Israel.

The battle between Israel and Hezbollah began final 12 months when the Iran-backed terror group opened hearth on Israel in help of Hamas within the wake of Oct. 7.

The back-and-forth intensified in latest weeks, with Israel killing a number of of Hezbollah’s high leaders by way of bombing campaigns in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

On Friday night, Jews throughout the Center East started the vacation of Yom Kippur, or the annual day of atonement.

This 12 months’s Yom Kippur — essentially the most holy day in Judaism — obtained beneath solution to the sound of warning sirens in central Israel, the Instances of Israel reported.

A constructing in Herzliya was hit when two drones fired from Lebanon crossed into Israeli airspace, based on the Israel Protection Forces.

It was not clear if the constructing was hit by the drone or shrapnel from the interceptors, the Instances of Israel famous.

One of many drones was shot down by a fighter jet, the IDF stated. It was not instantly clear why the second drone was not shot down.

Elements of Herzliya had been left with out energy from the affect, and emergency personnel had been responding to a minimum of one hearth, Channel 12 stated.

There have been no preliminary reported accidents.

Footage posted on-line confirmed the drone flying over Herzliya earlier than it made affect.

“The truth that two drones from Lebanon penetrated a minimum of 100 km into the central space could be very disturbing. The IDF says that the incident is being investigated, and the main points are beneath overview,” Israeli reporter Itay Blumenthal wrote in an update on X.

Israel additionally entered the weekend beneath hearth from the worldwide group, as leaders throughout the globe expressed their outrage after the IDF confirmed that it injured two extra UN peacekeepers on Friday.

The 2 Sri Lankan staff had been wounded when explosions hit close to the statement tower on the headquarters of the UN Interim Power In Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Naqoura.

One of many peacekeepers was hospitalized in reportedly important situation, whereas the opposite acquired therapy on-site.

The incident was extensively condemned by the Sri Lankan authorities. 

France — which additionally closely contributes to the peacekeeping effort — withdrew its Israeli ambassador in protest, whereas the Spanish prime minister known as for an arms embargo on Israel.

The Israeli army stated that troopers in southern Lebanon recognized a menace once they opened hearth, ensuing within the blast that wounded the UN staff.

The meant goal was about 165 toes from the UNIFIL place, an preliminary overview discovered.

UNIFIL claimed that an Israeli bulldozer additionally knocked over limitations on the UN’s place close to the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon.

The Sri Lankan peacekeepers had been damage simply sooner or later after Israeli tank hearth struck the identical UNIFIL headquarters and injured two Indonesian peacekeepers.

On the time, UNIFIL accused Israeli troopers of attacking a bunker at a base the place peacekeepers had been sheltering, leading to harm to autos and a communication system.

Israel has warned peacekeepers in southern Lebanon to depart their positions close to the place Hezbollah is believed to have launched rockets into northern Israel during the last 12 months.

On Thursday, the UN’s peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix stated 300 peacekeepers on the frontline had been already quickly moved to bigger bases for his or her security.

An announcement from the UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights condemned Israel’s name for the Lebanese folks to stand up in opposition to Hezbollah.

“Latest language threatening Lebanese folks as an entire and calling on them to both stand up in opposition to Hezbollah or face destruction like Gaza, dangers being understood as encouraging or accepting violence directed in opposition to civilians and civilian objects, in violation of worldwide regulation,” spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani stated Friday.

The continuing battle will “reverberate throughout many generations of individuals within the Center East,” she insisted.