As the world awaits a potentially “significant” Israeli strike against Iran, fighting continued in and around Beirut and throughout Lebanon, with Tehran-backed militant groups acknowledging the deaths of additional leaders from the latest attacks.
An Israeli official told the French news agency AFP on October 5 that the military was “preparing a response” to the massive Iranian missile barrage that struck Israel earlier this week, although most projectiles were shot down and caused few injuries and little property damage.
“The IDF is preparing a response to the unprecedented and unlawful Iranian attack on Israeli civilians and Israel,” the military official told AFP, referring to the Israeli Defense Forces.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official did not elaborate on the specifics or timing of any potential action.
The Israeli Haaretz newspaper, citing unnamed military officials, said the response would be “significant.”
Meanwhile, Israeli forces targeted several sites late on October 5 and early on October 6 in the suburbs of Beirut after warning people to evacuate five specific buildings.
“For your safety and that of your family members, you must immediately evacuate the designated buildings and those adjacent to them and move away from them at least 500 meters,” spokesman Avichay Adraee said.
Earlier, Hamas, the Gaza-based militant group that has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU, said an Israeli strike killed one of its commanders in a refugee camp in northern Lebanon on October 5.
“Commander” Saeed Attallah Ali, his wife, and two daughters were killed in a “Zionist bombardment of his house in the Beddawi camp” near the northern city of Tripoli, Hamas said.
It is the first reported occasion that the area has been hit as part of the latest military activity, which began with the militant group’s mass assault into Israel on October 7, 2023. More than 1,200 people were killed and some 250 taken hostage in Hamas’s rampage, prompting Israel’s brutal retaliation against the militants in Gaza.
The Israeli military reported on October 5 that Muhammad Hussein Ali al-Mahmoud, who it said was Hamas’s executive authority in Lebanon, was also killed in an air strike.
Over the past several days, Israeli forces have pounded areas near Beirut and southern Lebanon as they targeted Hezbollah strongholds, killing dozens of the militant group’s leaders, including chief Hassan Nasrallah on September 27.
Hezbollah has also been designated by the United States as a terror group, while the European Union has blacklisted its armed wing but not its political unit, which holds seats in the Lebanese parliament. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are considered to be Iranian proxies in the region.
The whereabouts of Nasrallah’s likely successor, Hashem Safieddine, who is a cousin of the slain leader, remained unknown on October 5 following the latest Israeli air strike that targeted a meeting of Hezbollah leaders on October 4.
As fears of an all-our war in the Middle East grow, French President Emmanuel Macron on October 5 urged a halt of arms deliveries to Israel, which has faced criticism and street protests abroad over the magnitude of its retaliatory actions in Gaza, which reportedly have killed more than 42,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.
“I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza,” Macron told French TV. He added that France was not sending weapons to Israel at this time.
He also assailed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his decision to launch the ground operations inside Lebanon despite pleas from Washington and Paris to avoid doing so.
“I regret that Prime Minister Netanyahu has made another choice,” Macron said.
Netanyahu lambasted the French leader for urging a halt to arms supplies to Israel.
“As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilized countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side. Yet, President Macron and other Western leaders are now calling for arms embargoes against Israel. Shame on them,” Netanyahu said.
Israel has claimed the operation in Gaza was necessary to wipe out Hamas militants and to protect its security following the October 7 terror attacks.
On October 4, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei used a rare public sermon to defend his country’s October 1 missile attack against Israel, saying it was “legitimate and legal” and that “if needed,” Tehran will do it again, prompting fears of further Israeli retaliation.
U.S. President Joe Biden on October 4 said there had been no decision yet on what type of response Israel should mount against Iran but advised against striking Iran’s oil facilities.
“If I were in their shoes, I’d be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields,” Biden said in the White House briefing room a day after saying such strikes were being discussed.
Biden also told reporters that Netanyahu should remember U.S. support for Israel when deciding on next steps. He added that he had been trying to rally the world to avoid all-out war in the Middle East.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
