Hezbollah Claims Missile Attack on Tel Aviv; Flights Disrupted

Air raid sirens echoed through Tel Aviv on Tuesday after Lebanon's Hezbollah announced it had targeted the Nirit area in the suburbs of the city with missiles. Thankfully, there have been no immediate reports of casualties resulting from the attack.

A Lebanese Middle East Airlines (MEA) plane takes off from Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport as smoke billows, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut, Lebanon October 22.

Following the missile launch, Ben Gurion International Airport suspended all arriving and departing flights as a precautionary measure.

This escalation comes just a day after Israel conducted airstrikes on approximately 300 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon in a 24-hour offensive aimed at disrupting the group's financial operations. The United States has reiterated its call for an immediate end to the ongoing conflict.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to begin a tour of the Middle East on Tuesday, focusing on efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and to mitigate the escalating regional tensions following more than a year of conflict.

In Lebanon, the health ministry reported that Israeli strikes near the largest public hospital in southern Beirut resulted in four fatalities and 24 injuries on Monday evening. Earlier, six deaths were confirmed in the eastern city of Baalbek, and four Hezbollah-linked rescuers were killed in the southern region due to Israeli raids over the same period.

Israel's military announced that among the nearly 30 targets struck was an underground vault belonging to Al-Qard al-Hassan, a financial firm linked to Hezbollah, which contained tens of millions of dollars in cash and gold. Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari stated that this money was “being used to finance Hezbollah's attacks on Israel.”

Hagari further revealed that another bunker, not yet targeted, is estimated to hold "at least half a billion dollars in cash and gold."

Additionally, he confirmed the elimination of a key commander responsible for funding Hezbollah in Syria, who had overseen the transfer of funds from Tehran's oil sales to the group.

The Syrian defense ministry reported the deaths of two individuals in an Israeli strike that targeted a vehicle in Damascus. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the attack occurred near a memorial for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israel last week in Gaza amid the ongoing conflict that began with Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.