Hezbollah’s spokesman killed in rare Israeli strike on central Beirut, official says

[Pelican Press 0]

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Hezbollah’s spokesman ******* in rare ******** strike on central Beirut, official says

BEIRUT (AP) — A rare ******** airstrike on central Beirut ******* Hezbollah’s chief spokesman on Sunday, an official with the militant group said. Earlier, ******** strikes ******* at least 12 people in the Gaza Strip, officials said, where ******* has been at war with the ************ ****** for over a year.

The latest in

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came as Lebanese officials

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. ******* also bombed several buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has long been headquartered, after warning people to evacuate.

Mohammed Afif, the head of media relations for Hezbollah, was ******* in a strike on the ***** socialist Baath party’s office in central Beirut, according to a Hezbollah official who was not authorized to brief reporters and so spoke on condition of anonymity.

Afif had remained especially visible after the eruption of all-out war between ******* and Hezbollah in September and the ******** of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was also targeted by an ******** airstrike. Last month, Afif had hastily wrapped up a press conference in Beirut ahead of ******** strikes.

A rare strike on central Beirut

An Associated Press photographer at the scene of Sunday’s strike saw four lifeless bodies and four wounded people, but there was no official word on the toll. People could be seen fleeing the neighborhood. There was no comment from the ******** military.

“I was asleep and awoke from the sound of the strike, and people screaming, and cars and gunfire,” said Suheil Halabi, who witnessed the strike. “I was startled, honestly. This is the first time I experience it so close.”

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was on Oct. 10, when 22 people were ******* in strikes on two locations.

Hezbollah began ******* rockets, missiles and drones into ******* the day after ******’ October 7, 2023 ******* ignited the war in Gaza. ******* launched retaliatory airstrikes in Lebanon and the conflict steadily escalated, erupting into all-out war in September. ******** forces invaded Lebanon on Oct. 1.

Hezbollah has continued to ***** dozens of projectiles into ******* each day and has expanded their range to the central part of the country. A rocket barrage on the northern city of Haifa on Saturday damaged a synagogue and wounded two civilians.

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in Lebanon, according to the country’s Health Ministry, and over 1.2 million driven from their homes. It is not known how many of the ***** are Hezbollah fighters.

On the ******** side, Hezbollah’s aerial attacks have ******* at least 76 people, including 31 soldiers, and caused some 60,000 people to flee from communities in the north.

Overnight strikes in central Gaza ***** 12

******** strikes ******* six people in Nuseirat and another four in Bureij, two built-up ******** camps in central Gaza dating back to

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.

Another two people were ******* in a strike on Gaza’s main north-south highway, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah, which received all 12 bodies.

The war between ******* and ****** began after ************ militants

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on Oct. 7. last year, ******** about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and

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. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, about a third of them believed to be *****.

The Health Ministry in Gaza says around 43,800 Palestinians have been ******* in the war. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but has said women and children make up more than half the fatalities.

Around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million Palestinians

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, and

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by ******** bombardment and ground operations.

******** police arrest 3 after flares fired at Netanyahu’s home

******** police meanwhile arrested three suspects after flares were fired at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal city of Caesarea.

Netanyahu and his family were not at the residence when two flares were fired at it overnight, and there were no injuries, authorities said. A drone launched by Hezbollah

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, also when Netanyahu and his family were away.

The police did not provide details about the suspects behind the flares, but officials pointed to domestic political critics of Netanyahu. *******’s largely ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, condemned the incident and warned against “an escalation of the ********* in the public sphere.”

Netanyahu has faced months of mass protests. Critics blaming him for the security and intelligence failures that allowed the Oct. 7 ******* to happen and for

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to release scores of hostages still held inside Gaza. Israelis rallied again in the city of Tel Aviv on Saturday night to demand a cease-***** deal to return them.

******** minister looks to revive polarizing judiciary overhaul

******** Justice Minister Yariv Levin seized on the flare ******* on Netanyahu’s home to call for a revival of

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, which had sparked months of mass protests before the war.

“The time has come to provide full support for the restoration of the justice system and the law enforcement systems, and to put an end to anarchy, rampage, refusal, and attempts to harm the prime minister,” he said in a statement.

Supporters said the judiciary changes aim to strengthen democracy by circumscribing the authority of unelected judges and turning over more powers to elected officials. Opponents see the overhaul as a

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, who is on trial on *********** charges and for an ******** on a key watchdog.

Many Israelis believe the fierce internal divisions caused by the attempted overhaul had weakened the country and its military ahead of the ****** ********.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said in a post on X that he “strongly condemns” the ******* of flares at Netanyahu’s home while blasting Levin’s proposal.

“Levin should go home with rest of this irresponsible government,” Lapid wrote. “We will not let him turn ******* into an undemocratic state.”

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Melzer reported from Tel Aviv, *******. Associated Press reporters Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed.

___

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#Hezbollahs #spokesman #******* #rare #******** #strike #central #Beirut #official

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