The IDF reported a new strike on a target in Beirut
The Israeli military launched another strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut. This was reported by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) press service on Monday, September 23.
"The Israel Defense Forces carried out a pinpoint strike on Beirut. Details will follow later," the statement said.
No other information was given at the time of publication. The Times of Israel reported, citing sources, that the target of the fourth strike on Beirut was a high-ranking commander of the Lebanese Shiite organization Hezbollah, Ali Karaki.
At the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Lebanese residents to evacuate from areas where Hezbollah rockets and shells are located. He asked them to take the warning seriously and promised that they would be able to return to their homes when the fighting ends.
Earlier in the day, the IDF reported massive strikes on Hezbollah facilities in Lebanon. According to the Lebanese side, at least 100 people were killed and more than 400 were injured. Netanyahu said afterward that in this way Israel was acting preemptively against the threat from Hezbollah.
Prior to that, on September 17 and 18, two waves of explosions of pagers and other communication devices of Hezbollah members took place in Lebanon. It was reported that at least 37 people were killed then, about 3 thousand were injured. Lebanese authorities and representatives of the movement blamed Israel for the explosions.
Then Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant announced that Tel Aviv was shifting forces to the northern front. The IDF began strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, and they continued in the following days. This included a strike on Beirut on September 20 that killed at least 45 people. The movement itself announced a new phase of confrontation with Israel and also launched rocket attacks on its territory.
The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian radical movement Hamas subjected the territory of Israel to a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip, as well as invaded the border areas in the south of the country and took hostages. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.
