Israel’s military says it attacked Hezbollah’s intelligence HQ in Beirut

BEIRUT - Israel said its air force attacked Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut on Oct 20, as well as an underground workshop for the production of weapons.

In a statement, the Israeli military said its fighter jets killed three Hezbollah commanders, including Alhaj Abbas Salameh, a senior figure in the group’s southern command; Radja Abbas Awache, a communications expert; and Ahmad Ali Hussein, who it said was responsible for strategic weapons development.

It was not clear if the three were killed in the attack on the headquarters or in separate actions.

Hezbollah made no immediate comment.

Israel’s military said on Oct 19 that it had destroyed tunnel shafts and underground infrastructure in southern Lebanon and killed Hezbollah’s deputy commander of the Bint Jbeil area on Oct 18.

Early on Oct 20, two Israeli strikes targeted Haret Hreik neighbourhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut, hitting a residential building near Bahman Hospital, said Lebanon’s state-run national news agency.

Reuters witnesses saw smoke rising from Beirut’s suburbs on the morning of Oct 20, but it was not clear if this was a result of the same strike.

Cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah

erupted in 2023

when the Iranian-backed group began launching rockets in support of Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Since October 2023, more than 2,400 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to its Health Ministry, with more than 1.2 million people displaced, while 59 people have been killed in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights, according to Israeli authorities. REUTERS