Israel airstrike in Beirut kills Hezbollah commander | CBC News

An Israeli airstrike on Beirut killed a senior Hezbollah commander on Tuesday as cross-border rocket attacks by both sides increased fears of a full-fledged war in the Middle East.

Israel's military said the airstrike on the Lebanese capital killed Ibrahim Kobeisi, who it said was the commander of Hezbollah's missiles and rocket force. Two security sources in Lebanon described him as a leading figure in the Iran-backed group's rocket division.

The attack dealt another blow to Hezbollah after a series of setbacks at the hands of Israel over the past week, and Israel later said it was carrying out "extensive strikes" on Hezbollah targets.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue to pound Hezbollah targets and urged Lebanese citizens to escape the grip of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

"Our war is not with you, our war is with Hezbollah," Netanyahu said at an army base at an undisclosed location.

Israel has accused Hezbollah of hiding its weapons in homes and villages in Lebanon, allegations the Lebanese group denies.

WATCH l Anxious times in northern Israel, but residents hope deterrence will work: 

People in Nahariya, in northwest Israel, spoke on Tuesday about how it felt to live in the area as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalates. 'Extremely alarming'

Israel struck Beirut for a second consecutive day. The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least six people were killed and 15 wounded in Tuesday's strike on a building in the Ghobeiry neighbourhood of Beirut.

The ministry said at least 558 people had been killed in Monday's strikes, including 50 children and 94 women, with 1,835 wounded.

Hezbollah said it targeted several Israeli military targets overnight, including an explosives factory 60 kilometres into Israel, which it attacked with Fadi rockets around 4 a.m. local time. It said it had also attacked the Megiddo airfield near the northern Israeli town of Afula three separate times.

After almost a year of war against Hamas in Gaza on its southern border, Israel is shifting its focus to the northern frontier, where Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas, which is also backed by Iran.

Some Lebanese hospitals are overwhelmed by the number of wounded, a World Health Organization official in Lebanon said, and Haifa's main hospital has moved operations to an underground facility after the Israeli city was attacked on Monday.

"We're looking at tens of thousands [of displaced in Lebanon], but we expect that those figures will start to rise," said the UN refugee agency's spokesperson, Matthew Saltmarsh. "The situation is extremely alarming."

The fighting has raised fears that the United States, Israel's close ally, and regional power Iran, which has proxies across the Middle East — Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis and armed groups in Iraq — will be sucked into a wider war.

Maj.-Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, said a "small number of additional U.S. military personnel" will be sent to the region, where there are currently about 40,000 American troops stationed at various bases. The Pentagon declined to specify the precise number or mission of the deployed forces.

The strikes have piled pressure on Hezbollah, which last week suffered heavy losses when thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded in the worst security breach in its history. Also last week, Israel strikes killed Ibrahim Akil, a Hezbollah commander who Western officials say was involved in militant activity for decades.

The operation was widely attributed to Israel, which has not confirmed or denied responsibility.

G7 concerned about regional war

Israel's military said about 55 projectiles had crossed into Israel in the latest attacks, but the majority were intercepted and several fallen projectiles had been identified in the Upper Galilee area.

"Damage was caused to buildings in the area," it said, adding that some of the projectiles were intercepted in the HaAmakim area and the rest fell in open areas.

WATCH l 'Wars have rules': Canada's UN ambassador Rae concerned about latest strikes: 

Canada's Ambassador to the United Nations Bob Rae tells Power & Politics that the growing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon is a 'very disconcerting situation.'

Hezbollah said it had bombed the logistical warehouses of the 146th Division in the Naftali base with a rocket salvo.

Foreign ministers from the G7, including Canada's Mélanie Joly, said the Middle East risked being dragged into a broader conflict that no country would gain from, according to a joint statement released after they met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

An all-out war could create instability across the Middle East in addition to a devastating war in Gaza, which shows no sign of easing.

Both Canada and the U.S. have advised their citizens still in Lebanon to leave while commercial options were still available. Joly estimated last week that there were about 45,000 Canadian citizens in Lebanon.

Hezbollah would likely be a more formidable foe for Israel in a ground invasion than Hamas. Created in 1982 by Iran's Revolutionary Guards to counter the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, it has vast experience, is highly disciplined and possesses better weaponry than its Palestinian ally.