Israel strikes 300 Hezbollah targets as US urges war's end

BEIRUT - Israel said Monday it struck around 300 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over 24 hours, ramping up its offensive to hit the group's finances, as the United States called for the war to end "as soon as possible".

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to begin a tour of the Middle East in Israel on Tuesday in a new push for an elusive ceasefire in the Gaza Strip after more than a year of war there and to contain the regional escalation.

In Lebanon, the health ministry said four people were killed and 24 wounded Monday evening in Israeli strikes near the country's largest public hospital, in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut.

It earlier reported six people killed in the eastern city of Baalbek and said four rescuers linked to Hezbollah had died in the south in Israeli raids over 24 hours.

Israel's military said an underground vault with tens of millions of dollars in cash and gold was among nearly 30 targets belonging to Hezbollah-linked financial firm Al-Qard al-Hassan hit since Sunday night.

The money in the vault was "being used to finance Hezbollah's attacks on Israel", Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

Another bunker, yet to be targeted, was estimated to hold "at least half a billion dollars in dollar bills and gold", he added.

Hagari also said the latest commander responsible for funding Iran-backed Hezbollah was "eliminated" Monday in Syria. The man was "responsible for the transfers and the amount of funds" to the group through Tehran's oil sales, he said.

Syria's defence ministry earlier announced the death of two people in a strike attributed to Israel targeting a car in Damascus.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a memorial was being held nearby for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israel last week in Gaza, more than a year into the war triggered by Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.

'INDESCRIBABLE PANIC'

Earlier, the army said it had struck nearly 30 targets belonging to the Hezbollah-linked financial firm.

Subject to US sanctions, the financial institution is part of a network of associations, schools and hospitals set up by Hezbollah.

The Israeli military vowed to carry out further attacks on Monday evening, including in Hezbollah's stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut which has been pummelled by strikes in recent weeks.

Shortly after Israel's military told residents to evacuate parts of the capital, the more central Ouzai neighbourhood was hit for the first time during the conflict, Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported.

Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers told AFP they were looking for survivors amid the devastation in Ouzai.

"They did not leave any room for people to escape. The strike came closely after the warning," one said.

Also on Monday evening, Hezbollah said it had launched a volley of rockets at an army intelligence base in the suburbs of the main Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

US CALLS FOR END TO VIOLENCE

Visiting Beirut, US envoy Amos Hochstein said Washington, Israel's top ally and main arms supplier, wanted to see the conflict in Lebanon end "as soon as possible", based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

It stipulates that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL should be deployed in areas south of Lebanon's Litani River near the Israeli border.

But Hezbollah remained in south Lebanon, and started launching low-intensity cross-border strikes into Israel last year in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas.

As Blinken was set to begin a regional tour, Iran on Monday warned the United States would bear "full responsibility" in case of a retaliatory attack by Israel.

The Iranian ambassador to the UN was responding after US President Joe Biden indicated he was aware of Israeli plans to respond to the Iranian missile attack.

After Israel, Blinken will visit Jordan on Wednesday and discuss humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip, an official on the plane with him said.

The war has also drawn in other Iran-aligned armed groups, including in Yemen, Syria and Iraq.

Last month, Israel expanded the scope of its war from Gaza to Lebanon, vowing to keep fighting Hezbollah until it secures its northern border to allow for the return of people displaced by rocket fire.

The NNA reported that the Israeli army blew up houses in the border village of Aita al-Shaab on Monday, adding that there had been heavy clashes in south Lebanon.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah had fired around 170 "projectiles" into Israel on Monday.

Nearly a month of all-out war has killed at least 1,489 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.

'WE WILL DIE OF HUNGER'

In the Gaza Strip, Israel launched a major air and ground assault in northern Gaza earlier this month, vowing to stop Hamas militants from regrouping in the area.

Gaza's civil defence agency said four Palestinians were killed in strikes on Monday, while several homes were blown up in the northern area of Jabalia, a focus of the recent fighting.

A displaced resident said Jabalia "is being wiped out".

"If we don't die from the bombing and gunfire, we will die of hunger," said 42-year-old Umm Firas Shamiyah, demanding aid be sent to the north.

Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have fled the assault on northern Gaza, and according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees around 400,000 people were trapped in northern Gaza last week.

The UN has warned of the risk of famine in Gaza, its figures showing that 396 aid trucks have entered the territory so far this month - far below the 3,003 seen in September.

In Gaza, the war was sparked by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on 7 October last year, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed 42,603 people, a majority civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the UN considers reliable.