Multiple explosions rock Beirut with massive clouds of smoke seen over Lebanese capital – after Netanyahu promised to keep striking Hezbollah

Huge clouds of smoke towered over Beirut this afternoon after reported airstrikes in the Lebanese capital.

Residents said they heard several explosions on Friday, believed to be from Israeli “shelling,” according to journalist Mounir Rabih, on the ground.

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV reported that Israeli strikes had destroyed four buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Reports of attacks came minutes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a defiant speech at the UN General Assembly, vowing to continue attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon. until Israel achieves ‘total victory’.

“My country is at war and fighting for its life,” Netanyahu said in his impassioned speech to the UN General Assembly.

‘We must defend ourselves against these ferocious killers. Our enemies are not just trying to destroy us, they are trying to destroy our common civilization and return us all to a dark age of tyranny and terror,” he told delegates.

In a message addressed to ‘the tyrants of Tehran’ he said: ‘If you hit us, we will hit you… There is no place in Iran where Israel’s long arm cannot reach. And that applies to the entire Middle East.’

His speech made no mention at all of the 21-day ceasefire proposal made by the US, France and other allies on Wednesday, which aims to cool tensions and allow for talks, as the region appears to be on the brink of a total crisis. war.

“We are winning,” Netanyahu said triumphantly, as Israel continues to bomb Lebanon as part of its campaign against Hezbollah, which he called a “typical terrorist organization.”

Widespread airstrikes in the south of the country and in the capital Beirut have killed hundreds, including civilians, children and paramedics, in just a few days.

Protesters gathered outside the UN and condemned Netanyahu, who has vowed to continue the fight against Hamas until “total victory” is achieved.

He further said of Israel’s war against Hamas and Hezbollah: “We will fight until we achieve victory, a total victory, there is no substitute for that.”

His speech was received with cheers from some allies in the audience, as well as cheers, with many delegates walking out as he took the stage.

Netanyahu said he had not planned to come to New York to address the UN meeting this year, but felt compelled to do so “to set the record straight” after what he called “the lies and slander that expressed against my country by many of the speakers. on this stage.’

He denounced the UN, as he has repeatedly in the past, labeling it “a house of darkness” and a “swamp of anti-Semitic bile” and saying that Israel should be treated as fairly as other nations.

He said the body has passed more resolutions against Israel in the past decade than all other countries combined, adding that the “war criminals” are in Iran, Gaza, Syria and Lebanon.

The two speakers who preceded Netanyahu on Friday each made a point of calling Israel out on its actions in Gaza, where tens of thousands of people have been killed in the past year.

“Mr. Netanyahu, stop this war now,” Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said as he concluded his speech and pounded the podium.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stated about Gaza just before the Israeli leader: ‘This is not just a conflict. This is a systematic slaughter of innocent people in Palestine.”

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 41,500 Palestinians and injured more than 96,000 others, according to the latest figures released Thursday by the Health Ministry.

In recent days, Israel has turned its attention to the border with Lebanon, where it is targeting Hezbollah, a proxy of Iran.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel almost immediately after October 7, saying its almost daily rocket fire into northern Israel for the past 11 months was intended to show its solidarity with Gaza.

Israel is facing pressure from its allies over its behavior in Lebanon, which has displaced many thousands of civilians in the attacks and left hundreds dead.

The shelters the government hastily set up on Monday quickly became overcrowded, causing many to take cover in cars on the side of the road.

“We had to make a lot of effort along the way to get here,” said Issa Baydoun, who fled the village of Shihine when it was bombed.

“We have evacuated our homes because Israel is targeting and attacking civilians.”

Israel claims it is targeting Hezbollah weapons and rocket launchers throughout southern Lebanon and in the Bekaa region in the north.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari has said that Israel plans to keep the operations “as short as possible” and insisted that the army is making “tremendous efforts not to hit civilians.”

“As for the high number of victims, it is all a tragedy in Lebanon,” he said.

But fears are growing that attacks could soon lead to a full-scale ground invasion.

The Israeli government is under enormous pressure at home to ensure that those displaced by the conflict in the north can return to their livelihoods.

About 60,000 people have been evacuated since Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza.

Major General Herzi Halevi further downplayed the threat of a ground invasion on Wednesday, ordering troops to prepare for ground attacks.

He said this week’s punishing airstrikes were intended to “prepare the ground for your possible accession and to continue to humiliate Hezbollah.”

The Israeli military has said in recent days that it has no immediate plans for a ground invasion, but Halevi’s comments were the strongest, suggesting troops could move in.

Israel said on Wednesday it would activate two reserve brigades for missions in the north – another sign that Israel is planning tougher action.

“This will enable the continuation of the fight against the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” the report said in a statement.

Nearly 800 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon in the past week, according to Lebanese figures.

Ongoing fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes on both sides of the border.

Israel vows to step up its attacks on Hezbollah until its citizens can safely return to their homes.

The joint ceasefire statement issued on Wednesday said the situation in Lebanon had become “unbearable” and was “in no one’s interest, neither of the people of Israel nor of the people of Lebanon.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister in New York on Thursday and told him the ceasefire would “allow civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes ‘.

“Further escalation of the conflict will only make that goal more difficult,” his spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.