Explore Business Standard
Hezbollah
An Israeli strike on a health center in southern Lebanon instantly killed 12 medical workers, seriously wounded one and left four missing under the rubble for hours. The March 13 strike in the village of Burj Qalaouiyah, one of the single deadliest strikes in Lebanon since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2, targeted a center run by Hezbollah's health arm, the Islamic Health Society, which has so far lost 24 members over the past two weeks. Since the latest war began, Israel's military has not only been targeting the group's military assets but also its civilian institutions in an apparent attempt to weaken the Iran-backed group further and try to push its supporters away from it. Hezbollah is a political party as well as an armed group, and its health and social service institutions have helped strengthen its base of support over the years. In addition to health centers, Israel has destroyed more than a dozen branches of Hezbollah's financial arm, al-Qard al-Hasan. .
The Lebanese mother of two had just awakened to prepare the pre-dawn meal before another day of fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when Israeli warplanes began attacking southern Lebanon in retaliation for rockets and drones launched by Hezbollah. The family quickly packed up and headed toward Beirut, seeking safety from another deadly war between Israel and Hezbollah. With tens of thousands of others fleeing on that March 2 day, the usually one-hour trip from the southern city of Nabatiyeh took 15 hours. "I am against giving pretexts to Israel," said the 45-year-old woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the Hezbollah supporters she lives among. "I am totally against Hezbollah's decision to start with the first strike," said the woman, who is now living with her husband, their 17- and 12-year-old children, and her mother-in-law inside a school turned into a shelter in the Lebanese capital. As Hezbollah enters a new round of fighting with
Israel has struck southern Lebanon and Beirut again early Sunday and killed 12 more people, the Lebanese health ministry said, as the war in the Middle East keeps escalating. Israeli officials said the strikes targeted commanders of the Lebanese branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised "many surprises" for the next phase of the conflict. Meanwhile, two border guards in Kuwait were killed when a swarm of missiles and drones hit the Gulf country. On Saturday, an Israeli attack hit an oil storage facility in Tehran, which sent up pillars of fire that could be seen in Associated Press video as a glow against the night sky. It appeared to be the first time a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war. The war, which erupted on Feb 28 after joint US-Israeli strikes hit Iran, has so far killed at least 1,230 people in the Islamic Republic, more than 300 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials.
Israel launched a barrage of strikes on Lebanon's capital, Beirut, after the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired missiles across the border early Monday. It was the first time in more than a year that Hezbollah has claimed a strike against Israel. The Israeli military said it intercepted a projectile that crossed the border and that several others fell in open areas. No injuries or damage were reported. Hezbollah said in a statement that the strikes were carried out in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and for "repeated Israeli aggressions.
At least 12 people were killed and 24 wounded - including three children - in Israeli strikes in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley Friday, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported. Another two people were killed by an Israeli strike on a Palestinian refugee camp earlier in the day. Israel said it had hit "command centers" of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in Bekaa Valley. There was no immediate statement from Hezbollah. Local television footage from the scene of one of the strikes in the Bekaa showed the targeted site appeared to be an apartment building, and emergency crews were fighting a fire and searching in the rubble for survivors. Earlier Friday, another Israeli strike had hit a Palestinian refugee camp in the port city of Sidon, killing two people. The Israeli military said it hit a "Hamas command center" in the Ein el-Hilweh camp. Hamas acknowledged that two of its members had been killed in the strike but called the claim that a command center was struck a "flimsy pretex
Israel's air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, saying they are home to infrastructure for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas. The strikes came a few days before Lebanon's army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel. The strikes took place nearly two hours after Israel's military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X that the military would strike targets for Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas groups in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said a home struck in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024. The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas clos
Iraq's government on Thursday retracted a terror designation for Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group and Yemen's Houthi rebels, just weeks after imposing the measure it now says was a mistake. The government's retraction came hours after reports first circulated about the designation, which was an error made before reviewing," according to a statement. The initial decision, published in the official Iraqi gazette on November 17, had placed the two groups both allies of Iran and also Iraq's Shiite militias among 24 organisations targeted under a national asset freeze order, accusing them of participating in committing a terrorist act. Iraq is under increasing pressure from the United States to clamp down on local Iran-backed militias. Baghdad is also struggling to balance its relations with Washington and Tehran, amid fears of a new Israel-Iran war that could spill over into neighbouring countries. The names of Hezbollah and the Houthis will be removed" in a corrected publication o
Israel on Sunday struck Lebanon's capital for the first time since June, saying it killed Hezbollah's chief of staff Haytham Tabtabai and warning the Iran-backed militant group not to rearm and rebuild a year after their latest war. The strike in Beirut's southern suburbs killed five people and wounded 25 others, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. Hezbollah did not immediately comment. Earlier, it said the strike, launched almost exactly a year after a ceasefire ended that Israel-Hezbollah war, threatened an escalation of attacks just days before Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to visit Lebanon on his first foreign trip. We will continue to act forcefully to prevent any threat to the residents of the north and the state of Israel, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. Government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian did not say whether Israel informed the US before the strike, saying only that Israel makes decisions independently. Israel did not issue an evacuation ...