A series of violent Israeli raids targeted Beirut at 4 AM today without prior warning, and focused on an eight-story building on Fathallah street in the Basta al-Fawqa neighborhood, a popular and densely populated neighborhood.
Israeli Channel 12 reported that the person targeted in the raid in the center of Beirut is more important than Talal Hamiyeh, as the Israeli media had previously announced that the target was Hamiyeh.
Israeli sources indicated to Sky News Arabia that the target of the raid on Beirut was the head of Hezbollah's operations department, Mohammed Haidar. The fate of Haidar remains unknown.
Haidar was an advisor to Nasrallah and is described as Hezbollah's strategic security mind, noting that he was a former member of the Lebanese parliament in 1992 and has been away from politics and the media for a long time. A few years back, Israel attempted to assassinate Haidar by sending a drone to the southern suburb of Beirut but the drone was intercepted. Haidar is considered one of the leaders who play an important role in Hezbollah after the notorious Imad Moghniyeh and Mustafa Badreddine.
“At least four rockets were fired in an Israeli air attack on the center of Beirut,” Reuters quoted Lebanese security sources as saying.
The Israeli strikes reportedly destroyed at least one building and severely damaged others in Basta, causing panic among residents.
Appeals for blood donations were made after the raid.
Rescue teams were quoted as saying that 12 people were killed and more than 63 injured in a preliminary toll of the raid, while civil defense teams continue to remove the rubble.