Lebanon's prestigious cultural award show, the Murex d'Or, postponed Friday its annual ceremony in the lights of the ongoing escalation in the 11-month-old conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The first came two days of exploding pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah — deadly attacks pinned on Israel that also maimed civilians around Lebanon.
Hezbollah’s leader vowed to retaliate, and on Friday, the group launched dozens of rockets into northern Israel.
Later in the day, Israel said it killed the commander of Hezbollah’s most elite unit with a strike in Beirut that left at least 14 dead.
Many fear the events are the prelude to an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon’s most powerful armed force.
A war threatens to bring devastation in Lebanon, heavy missile fire into Israeli cities, and further destabilization to a region already shaken by the Gaza war.
During 11 months of exchanges of fire over the Lebanese-Israeli border, both sides have repeatedly pulled back when the spiral of reprisals appeared on the verge of going out of control, under heavy pressure from the U.S. and its allies.
An Israeli airstrike Friday brought down a high-rise building in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah has a strong presence.
At least 14 people were killed and more than 60 wounded, the deadliest Israeli strike in the Lebanese capital since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
The Israeli military said the strike killed Ibrahim Akil, the commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit, as well as other top leaders of the unit.
Hezbollah later confirmed Akil was killed, a heavy blow to Hezbollah’s most effective fighters.
Israel said Akil led the group’s campaign of rocket, drone, and other fire into northern Israel.
The strike came after the shock of the electronic device bombings, in which hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah detonated on Tuesday and Wednesday.
At least 37 people were killed, including two children, and some 3,000 wounded. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
The casualties included some fighters from the group, but many of the wounded were civilians connected to Hezbollah’s social branches.
Analysts say the attack has little effect on Hezbollah’s manpower but could disrupt its communications and force it to take tighter security measures.
Hezbollah fired 140 rockets into northern Israel on Friday, saying it was targeting military sites in retaliation for overnight Israeli strikes into southern Lebanon.
It was a continuation of the near daily drumbeat of exchanges over the border since the Gaza war began in October.
The exchanges have killed some 600 people in Lebanon – mostly fighters but including around 100 civilians — and some 50 soldiers and civilians in Israel.
It has also forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate homes near the border in both Israel and Lebanon.
As fighting in Gaza has slowed, Israel has fortified forces along the border with Lebanon, including the arrival this week of a powerful army division that took part in some of the heaviest fighting in Gaza.
It is believed to include thousands of troops, including paratrooper infantry units and artillery and elite commando forces specially trained for operations behind enemy lines.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant this week declared the start of a “new phase” of the war as Israel turned its focus toward Hezbollah.
“The centerYoav Gallant of gravity is shifting to the north by diverting resources and forces,” he said.
In 2006, war broke between Israel and Hezbollah after fighters kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.
During that war, Israel heavily bombarded southern Lebanon and Beirut and sent a ground invasion into the south.
The strategy, later explained by Israeli commanders, was to inflict the maximum damage possible in towns and neighborhoods where Hezbollah operated to deter them from launching attacks.
It became known as the “Dahiyeh Doctrine,” named after Beirut suburbs where large areas were levelled during the war.
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