War in the Middle East
Israel attacks Hezbollah headquarters in mosque
Smoke rises after Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon, seen from northern Israel
© Leo Correa/AP/DPA
Israel continues to take action against Hezbollah in Lebanon. The army says it attacked a mosque. The leadership in Tehran is now promoting peace in Lebanon and Gaza.
The Israeli army says it attacked fighters from the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia in a mosque in southern Lebanon. The army said that on Saturday night, using information from military intelligence, the Israeli Air Force shelled a Hezbollah command center inside a mosque attached to the Salah Ghandur Hospital in the south of the city Lebanon borders.
“The command center was used by Hezbollah terrorists to plan and carry out terrorist attacks (against the Israeli army),” the statement added. The Lebanese News Agency reported on Friday evening that the area around the Salah Ghandur Hospital in Bint Jbeil had been targeted by “Israeli artillery fire”.
Israel’s first attack on mosque in Lebanon
Mohammed Sleiman, the director of the hospital, which is run by a Hezbollah-linked health organization, told AFP that seven members of the medical staff were injured by gunfire. The clinic was therefore evacuated.
It was the first time that the Israeli army attacked a mosque in Lebanon since Hezbollah expanded its attacks on Israel in support of the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas in the Gaza war. In recent weeks, the conflict between Israel and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia in Lebanon has worsened significantly. After massive air strikes on Hezbollah targets, the Israeli military announced the start of a “limited ground operation” in southern Lebanon on Tuesday night.
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Iran: “Ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza the most urgent problem”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says he wants to restart the peace process in Lebanon and the Gaza war. “Currently, the ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza is the most urgent issue, and we hope that the efforts in this regard will also bear fruit,” Araghchi said during a visit to the Syrian capital Damascus, according to the Irna news agency.
Iran’s chief diplomat described Israel as the main obstacle and called on the international community to stand against Israel’s “war crimes” to make peace possible.
Israel has announced a counterstrike after the Iranian missile attacks on Tuesday evening. If there were attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, observers believe this would have serious consequences for Iran. Tehran is therefore trying to prevent this scenario with peace gestures.
Tehran justified its attack, among other things, with the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike in a southern suburb of Beirut.