BEIRUT (AP) — The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut on Friday with a series of powerful explosions that targeted the militant group’s leader and leveled multiple skyscrapers. The largest explosion to hit the Lebanese capital last year seemed to bring the escalation of the conflict closer to full-fledged war. Lebanon’s health ministry said at least six people were killed and 91 injured.

The target of the attacks was Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, according to two people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity, including one U.S. official. The Israeli army declined to comment on who its targets were. It was not immediately clear whether Nasrallah was at the scene, and Hezbollah did not comment on the report.

The death toll is likely to rise significantly as teams continue to comb through the rubble of six buildings. After the initial blast, Israel launched a series of attacks on other areas of the southern suburbs.

After the strikes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly interrupted his visit to the United States to return home. Hours earlier, he had addressed the United Nations, vowing that Israel’s intensified campaign against Hezbollah over the past two weeks would continue, further dampening hopes for an internationally backed ceasefire.

News of the explosions came as Netanyahu was briefing reporters after his speech before the United Nations. A military adviser whispered in his ear, and Netanyahu quickly ended the briefing.

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Beirut, seen from Baabda, Friday, September 27, 2024. (AP Photo)

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the attacks targeted Hezbollah’s headquarters, saying it was located underground under residential buildings.

According to Lebanon’s national news agency, a series of explosions that occurred around dusk reduced six residential high-rise buildings to rubble in Haret Hreik, a densely populated, mostly Shiite neighborhood in the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut. A wall of billowing black and orange smoke rose into the sky as windows shook and houses shook about 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Beirut.

The footage shows rescuers climbing over large slabs of concrete, surrounded by tall piles of twisted metal and wreckage. Several craters were visible, and a car overturned in one of them. A stream of residents carrying their belongings was seen fleeing the main road leading out of the district.

Israel had no immediate comment on the type of bomb or how many were used, but the resulting explosion leveled an area larger than a city block. The Israeli army has in its arsenal 2,000-pound American-made “Bunker Buster” guided bombs, designed specifically to hit underground targets.

Richard Weir, a crisis and weapons researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the explosions were consistent with that class of bombs.

The Israeli Air Force carried out a new series of attacks early Saturday, shortly after an Israeli military spokesman warned residents of three buildings to evacuate, saying Hezbollah was using them to hide weapons, including anti-ship missiles.

To an extent not seen in previous conflicts, Israel last week sought to eliminate Hezbollah’s senior leadership. But an assassination attempt on Nasrallah, whether successful or not, would represent a serious escalation. The Pentagon said the United States received no advance warning of the attacks.

Nasrallah had been in hiding for years and rarely appeared in public. He gives speeches regularly, but always in video form from unknown locations. The location hit Friday evening was not publicly known as Hezbollah’s headquarters, although it is located in the group’s “security quarters,” a heavily guarded part of Haret Hreik that houses its offices and several nearby hospitals.

Four hours after the strike, Hezbollah still has not issued any statement on the matter. Instead, it announced that it had fired a salvo of rockets at the Israeli city of Safed, which it stated was “in defense of Lebanon and its inhabitants and in response to the barbaric Israeli violations of cities, villages and civilians.” The Israeli military said a house and a car were hit in Safed, and authorities said a 68-year-old woman suffered minor shrapnel wounds.

Israel dramatically stepped up its airstrikes in Lebanon this week, saying it is determined to end more than 11 months of Hezbollah shelling on its territory. According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, more than 720 people died in Lebanon as a result of the escalation of the campaign, including dozens of women and children. The state news agency reported that nine members of the same family were killed before dawn Friday in the mostly Sunni border town of Chebaa.

The scope of Israel’s operation remains unclear, but officials say a ground invasion to push the militant group away from the border is possible. In preparation, Israel moved thousands of troops towards the border.

The White House said President Joe Biden has ordered his national security team to assess whether further action is needed to strengthen the security of American interests in the Middle East.

Biden was briefed several times by national security advisers on Friday following the strike on Hezbollah headquarters. According to the White House, the president has “directed the Pentagon to evaluate and adjust, as necessary, the deployment of U.S. forces in the region to enhance deterrence, provide force protection, and support the full range of U.S. objectives.”

At the UN, Netanyahu vowed to “continue the degradation of Hezbollah” until Israel achieves its goals. His comments dampened hopes for a U.S.-backed call for a 21-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah to allow time for a diplomatic solution. Hezbollah did not respond to this proposal.

Iran-backed Hezbollah, Lebanon’s strongest military force, began firing rockets at Israel almost immediately after the Hamas attack on October 7, claiming it was a show of support for the Palestinians. Since then, she and the Israeli military have exchanged fire almost daily, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes on both sides of the border.

An Israeli security official said he expected the campaign against Hezbollah to not last as long as the current war in Gaza because the army’s goals are much narrower.

In Gaza, Israel seeks to dismantle the Hamas military and political regime, but in Lebanon the goal is to push Hezbollah away from the border – “not as high a bar as Gaza” in terms of operational goals, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to on military clearance guidelines.

The Israeli military said it carried out dozens of attacks in the south on Friday, targeting Hezbollah rocket launchers and infrastructure. Hezbollah is said to have fired a volley of rockets towards Tiberias in northern Israel.

In Tyre, southern Lebanon, civil defense workers pulled the bodies of two women – 35-year-old Hiba Ataya and her mother Sabah Olyan – from the rubble of a building demolished by the strike.

“It’s Sabah, those are her clothes, honey,” one of the men called out as her body emerged.

Israel says its accelerated attacks this week have already caused serious damage to the weapons capabilities of Hezbollah and its fighters. But the group boasted a large arsenal of rockets and missiles, and its other capabilities remain unknown.

Hezbollah representatives and their supporters remain defiant. Shortly before Friday evening’s explosions, thousands of people gathered in another part of Beirut’s suburbs for the funeral of three Hezbollah members killed in earlier strikes, including the head of the group’s drone unit, Mohammed Surour.

Men and women in the gigantic crowd waved their fists in the air and chanted, “We will never accept humiliation,” as they marched behind the three coffins, wrapped in the group’s yellow flag.

Hussein Fadlallah, Hezbollah’s top official in Beirut, said in a speech that no matter how many commanders Israel kills, the group has an infinite number of experienced fighters. He vowed that Hezbollah would fight until Israel ended its offensive in Gaza.

“We will not abandon support for Palestine, Jerusalem and oppressed Gaza,” Fadlallah said. “There is no room for neutrality in this battle.”

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AP writers Tia Goldenberg at the United Nations, Abby Sewell in Beirut, Aamer Madhani in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and Zeina Karam in London contributed to this report.

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