Netanyahu returning to Israel from New York in wake of Israeli airstrike in Lebanon

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) — Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut short his trip to New York on Friday evening following an unprecedented airstrike by his country's army on Lebanon's capital.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli jets conducted several heavy airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburb area, claiming to have attacked the main headquarters of Lebanese group Hezbollah.

A statement by his office indicated that Netanyahu took off from New York at 1 p.m. EDT.

According to an Anadolu correspondent in Beirut, Israeli warplanes launched some 10 airstrikes on the southern suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold, with a large smoke plume rising over the area.

Shortly after the strikes, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said the attack targeted Hezbollah's main headquarters, which he claimed was built underneath civilian buildings.

Following the airstrike, Israeli media said the army was verifying whether Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was inside the targeted area.

Netanyahu's office released a photo for him inside his office at the UN headquarters in New York while using a landline telephone to approve the strike on Beirut.

An initial toll by Lebanon's Health Ministry said two people were killed, while 76 others were injured as a result of strikes, though the country's Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said information suggested that there were "a large number of victims."

Hezbollah is yet to comment on the attack.

Israel has pounded Lebanon since Monday morning, killing over 700 people and injuring nearly 2,200 others, according to figures released by the Lebanese Health Ministry.

The ministry also said that the death toll in Lebanon since last October is 1,540, in addition to more than 77,000 displaced from southern and eastern parts of the country.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed more than 41,500 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by Hamas last Oct. 7.

The international community has warned against the strikes on Lebanon, as they raise the specter of turning the Gaza conflict into a regional war.