The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesperson’s Office said it had called on Beirut residents to evacuate certain areas of the city. The army had formally warned residents of an impending strike by the Jewish state on Hezbollah weapons depots.
He added that residents of the Al-Salam compound in the Hadath area, Monir Shadid in the Laileki area, and in the Elhadad area should move as far away from the buildings as possible. This is because Israel intends to “strike weapons stored under the buildings.”
The day before, the Israeli Air Force carried out an airstrike on the Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut, located under residential buildings in the central part of the Dahiya district. It later became known that the IDF attempted to eliminate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah by striking the suburbs of Beirut, but the operation did not achieve the desired goal, the Al Arabiya TV channel reported. At the same time, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported that, according to preliminary data, two people were killed and 76 were injured in the densely populated area.
On September 24, the IDF launched a new wave of strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Earlier, the IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi had announced the start of a “preemptive offensive operation.” The number of casualties as a result of Israeli airstrikes on populated areas in southern and eastern Lebanon recently rose to 492.