Israeli airstrikes rock Beirut & cut off key crossing into Syria

Beirut: Israel carried out a series of massive airstrikes overnight, hitting suburbs of Beirut and cutting off the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria for tens of thousands of people fleeing Israeli bombardment.

The blasts in Beirut’s southern suburbs sent huge plumes of smoke and flames into the night sky and shook buildings km (miles) away in the Lebanese capital. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on what the intended target was, and there was no information immediately available on casualties. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported there were more than 10 consecutive airstrikes in the area.

The Israeli military said Friday that a strike in Beirut the day before killed Mohammed Rashid Skafi, the head of Hezbollah’s communications division. The military said in a statement that Skafi was “a senior Hezbollah terrorist who was responsible for the communications unit since 2000” and was “closely affiliated” with high-up Hezbollah officials.

Thursday’s strike along the Lebanon-Syria border, about 50 km (30 miles) east of Beirut, led to the closure of the road near the busy Masnaa Border Crossing. Israel said it had targeted the crossing because it was being used by Hezbollah to transport military equipment across the border. It said fighter jets had struck a tunnel used it to smuggle weapons from Iran and other proxies into Lebanon.

Hezbollah is believed to have received much of its weaponry from Iran via Syria. The group has a presence on both sides of the border, a region where it has been fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

Associated Press video footage showed two huge craters on each side of the road. People disembarked cars unable to pass the site of the strike, carrying bags of their possessions as they crossed on foot. Tens of thousands of people fleeing war in Lebanon have crossed into Syria over the past two weeks there.

The new wave of strikes came after Israel warned people to evacuate communities in southern Lebanon, including but also beyond an area that the United Nations declared a buffer zone after Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in 2006. Israel launched a ground incursion into Lebanon on Tuesday and its forces have been clashing with Hezbollah militants in a narrow strip along the border. A series of attacks before the incursion killed some of the group’s key members, including longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, arrived Friday in Beirut, where he was expected to discuss the war between Israel and Hezbollah with Lebanese officials.

Araghchi’s visit to Beirut came three days after Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel, the latest in a series of rapidly escalating attacks that threaten to push the Middle East closer to a regionwide war.