Considered an icon of resistance against Israel and one of the most influential political figures in the Arab world, Hasan Nasrallah was killed by a massive Israeli airstrike that leveled an entire residential block in Beirut’s Dahiya district.
Israel’s mass terror attack in Lebanon that led to the death and maiming of hundreds of civilians also served as a playbook for how Israel seeks to justify its war crimes. But as the attack’s aftermath showed, these tricks are beginning to fail.
Israel completely flattened at least six residential buildings in Beirut’s southern Dahiya district with 2000-pound bombs amid claims that Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah was the target.
Abdaljawad Omar speaks to Mondoweiss about how the recent escalation of fighting between Israel and the Lebanese resistance is connected to the ongoing genocide in Gaza since October 7.
People in Gaza hoped that an expansion of the Lebanese front would ease pressure on Gaza. Instead, Israel has escalated its massacres while global attention is elsewhere. They still hope the resistance in Lebanon will make Israel pay.
Israel’s intensifying bombardment of Lebanon has killed at least 274 people so far, while Hezbollah retaliates with rockets across Israel. The Israeli army also raided and forcibly shut down the Ramallah office of Al Jazeera.
Hezbollah launched a barrage of at least 115 rockets against Israeli targets in retaliation for Israel’s pager and electronics explosion attacks across Lebanon and following the assassination of top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil in Beirut.
Israel bombed a residential building in Beirut’s southern Dahiya district on Friday killing nine, including five children, and wounding 59. Reports indicate the strike targeted Ibrahim Aqil, one of Hezbollah’s top military commanders.
Following the Lebanon pager explosion attacks, Nasrallah said an Israeli invasion would be a “historic opportunity” to target Israeli forces. Earlier in the week, Israel razed an entire residential block in central Gaza, killing at least 40 people.
Israel’s latest attack on Lebanon represents an expansion of its Dahiya doctrine which intentionally targets civilians to send a political message.