Hezbollah commanders among 37 killed in Beirut strike; Israeli strike on Gaza school kills 22, officials say
Hezbollah was reeling Saturday from an Israeli airstrike that killed two of its senior figures and dozens of other people, intensifying fears of all-out conflict in the Middle East.
Hezbollah was reeling Saturday from an Israeli airstrike that killed two of its senior figures and dozens of other people, intensifying fears of all-out conflict in the Middle East.
While the United Nations led calls for diplomacy, the two sides traded a new barrage of fire Saturday and Iran, which backs the militant and political group, said the region was “on the brink of war.”
The strike followed the coordinated detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members across Lebanon, a significant escalation after months of deadly cross-border exchanges in parallel with Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military carried out a strike on a school in the Palestinian enclave Saturday that it said targeted Hamas militants, but local officials said sheltering children were among 22 people killed.
And as authorities around the world probed the origins of the exploding devices, Hungary's intelligence services interviewed the CEO of a firm linked to the pagers while a walkie-talkie maker in Japan distanced itself from the blasts.
People gather Saturday at the scene of the Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs. AFP - Getty ImagesTensions rise after Beirut blast kills 37Hezbollah said Ibrahim Akil, who helped establish the militant and political group's elite Radwan Force, and Ahmed Wahbi, who was in charge of Hezbollah's central training unit, were killed in the strike Friday on a densely populated suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut.
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