Blasts rock Beirut as Israel targets Hezbollah headquarters just hours after Netanyahu issues warning at UN

27 September 2024, 19:45

Blasts have rocked Beirut after Israel targeted Hezbollah headquarters just hours after Benjamin Netanyahu issued a stark warning at the United Nations General Assembly.

Israeli airstrikes hit one of Beirut's heavily-populated southern suburbs on Friday as blasts were heard throughout the Lebanese capital.

It came an hour after thousands of people attended the funeral of a top Hezbollah commander who was killed the day before.

Iran said the attack was a "dangerous game-changing escalation" that would "bring its perpetrator an appropriate punishment".

Hezbollah is part of Iran's "axis of resistance" across the Middle East, with groups having targeted Israel in support of Hamas.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah's central command in Beirut was the focus of the latest strike.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said it was embedded deep in civilian areas.

Read more: Benjamin Netanyahu tells UN that Israel will fight 'until we achieve total victory' if Hamas does not surrender

Read more: 'Escalation serves no one': PM calls for ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in UN General Assembly address

It comes after Mr Netanyahu, armed with visual aids as he has been in the past, defended his nation's response to the October 7 2023 attacks by Hamas on Israel, which triggered an Israeli military operation that has devastated the Gaza Strip.

"I didn't intend to come here this year. My country is at war fighting for its life," Mr Netanyahu said.

"But after I heard the lies and slanders levelled at my country by many of the speakers at this podium, I decided to come here and set the record straight."

He insisted that Israel wanted peace but said of Iran: "If you strike us, we will strike you."

Read more: Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu rules out UK and US ceasefire proposal with Lebanon

Mr Netanyahu once again blamed Iran for being behind many of the problems in the region.

Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 41,500 Palestinians and wounded more than 96,000 others, according to the latest figures released on Thursday by the Health Ministry.

The ministry, part of Gaza's Hamas government, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but more than half the dead have been women and children, including about 1,300 children under the age of two.

In recent days, Israel has turned its attention to the border with Lebanon, where it is targeting Hezbollah militants and has inflicted civilian casualties as well.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel almost immediately after the Hamas invasion, and ongoing fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes on both sides of the border.

Israel is vowing to step up its attacks on Hezbollah until its citizens can return safely to their homes.

Mr Netanyahu said on Friday that his nation will "continue degrading Hezbollah" until it achieves its goals along the Lebanon border too.

"Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their home safely. And that's exactly what we're doing ... we'll continue degrading Hezbollah until all our objectives are met," he said.

"Just imagine if terrorists turned El Paso and San Diego into ghost towns ... How long would the American government tolerate that?

"Yet Israel has been tolerating this intolerable situation for almost a year. Well, I've come here today to say: Enough is enough."

Late on Wednesday, the United States, France and other allies jointly called for an "immediate" 21-day ceasefire to allow for negotiations as fears grow that the violent escalation in recent days - following 11 months of cross-border exchange of fire - could grow into an all-out war.

The United Nations says more than 90,000 people have been displaced by five days of Israeli strikes on Lebanon, bringing the total to 200,000 people who have been displaced in Lebanon since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Hamas after it stormed into Israel, sparking the Israel-Hamas war.

Israel has maintained its military operations are justified and are necessary to defend itself.

As Mr Netanyahu took to the stage, there was enough ruckus in the audience that the presiding diplomat had to shout: "Order, please."

The two speakers who preceded Mr Netanyahu on Friday each made a point of calling out Israel for its actions.

"Mr Netanyahu, stop this war now," Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said as he closed his remarks, pounding the podium.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, speaking just before the Israeli leader, declared of Gaza: "This is not just a conflict. This is systematic slaughter of innocent people of Palestine."

He thumped the rostrum to audible applause.