Huge explosion erupts in Beirut after ‘Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets’ as smoke billows over Lebanese capital
A HUGE explosion has ripped through Beirut after an Israeli airstrike hit the city and caused a huge blaze.
Footage has captured the giant fireball erupting from the already burning blaze in the same suburb as where Hezbollah’s leader was recently killed.
It is not clear whether the explosion is caused by a fresh airstrike by Israeli forces or is an eruption caused by something burning on the ground.
Locals reported a number of Israeli strikes on the city with a drone buzzing overhead just beforehand.
Israel told locals to evacuate after saying it was targeting “Hezbollah facilities and interests”.
The BBC reported there are ongoing secondary explosions after a petrol station could have been hit.
They said two air strikes hit the site, a warehouse, but after the fire started other explosions started.
In a statement, the IDF said: “The IDF is currently attacking terrorist targets of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the Beirut area.”
Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an underground command post in Dahieh last week.
The IDF then pounded the suburb with 80 bombs over just several minutes in the late afternoon destroying the hideaway.
The bunker reached 50m underground and held a number of other senior members of the group.
Lebanese media also reported that a fire had broken out at the studios of Hezbollah-affiliated news outlet Al Manar, in the same suburb.
At the same time as the IDF struck Beirut, a barrage of rockets was sent by Hezbollah from Lebanon into Kiryat Shmona.
It came after IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Saturday forces had killed 440 Hezbollah fighters so far in their invasion of Lebanon.
But he warned Israel that Hamas could attack events being held to mark the October 7 anniversary.
Hagari said soldiers were “continuing to fight and operate in Lebanon” and two divisions are manoeuvring in urban and other terrains.
He added: “So far 2,000 Hezbollah targets have been destroyed,” he says.
“Our soldiers are collecting a lot of intel and many weapons from Hezbollah.”
Israel launched their ground offensive into Lebanon this week as they seek to cripple the Iran-backed terror group.
Iran responded to the invasion with a 180-missile barrage against Israel on Tuesday.
Fire lit up the sky across the country as the Iran’s rockets rained down and were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome system.
Israel is now set to respond – with experts believing it could strike Iran’s oil facilities – but it has also continued its air campaign in Lebanon.
Benjamin Netanyahu slams calls for arms embargo as 'shameful'
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu addressed his country tonight and slammed French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to call for an arms embargo today as “shameful”.
He said: “What a disgrace, let me tell you this: Israel will win with or without their support but their shame will continue long after the war has won.”
Netanyahu claims the war is defending “civilisation” against “barbarism” and “those who seek to impose a dark age of fanaticism on all of us”.
In a post on X today, Macron said: “There must be no war in Lebanon.
“We strongly urge Israel to stop the escalation in Lebanon, Hezbollah to cease firing towards Israel, and all those providing them with the means to do so to stop.”