An aircraft of Middle East Airlines (MEA), Lebanon’s flag carrier, takes off from Beirut International Airport on October 6, 2024 amidst smoke rising from nearby sites targeted overnight by Israeli air strikes in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The United States warned Israel on Monday (October 7, 2024) not to attack Beirut airport or the roads leading to it, as the Israeli Army carried out intensive strikes against Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs.

“We think it’s very important that not only the airport be open, but that the roads to the airport be open, so that American citizens who want to leave can get out, but also citizens of other countries,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

The Israeli air force carried out a strike on Monday in the southern suburbs of Beirut, near the international airport, a security source told AFP.

For the past week, the United States has been chartering near-daily flights to get its citizens and their families out of the country as the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah escalates.

Some 900 people have taken the flights so far, Miller said, though he added that none of them were fully booked.

The U.S. is also reserving seats on commercial flights that continue to operate.

Some 8,500 Americans have contacted the State Department to inquire about departure conditions, but this does not mean they all wish to leave, he added.

The spokesman also refused to comment on Israeli strikes in Lebanon — and Beirut in particular — and whether or not they respected international law.

“I don’t have a characterization of them one way or the other,” he said.

“But of course, we expect them to target Hezbollah in a way that complies with international humanitarian law and minimizes civilian casualties.”

The United States has at times criticized the number of people killed by Israel in Gaza — more than 41,000 over the past year — and President Joe Biden has called some of Israel’s actions there “over the top.”

But, so far, Washington hasn’t changed its policy of backing Israel in its expanding military operations.

Israel launched a vast military campaign in response to a bloody attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023.

In recent weeks it has expanded its war from the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is based, to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The U.S. supports Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah, Miller said.

But, he added, “we are very cognizant of the many times in the past where Israel has gone in on what looked like limited operations and has stayed for months or for years.

“And ultimately, that’s not the outcome that we want to see.”

Washington:

The United States said Monday Israel must make every possible effort to avoid civilian casualties, following a deadly strike that hit a displacement camp in Rafah, which Gaza’s health ministry said killed 45 people.

Israel is facing a wave of international condemnation over the strike, both across the region and from the European Union, France and the United Nations.

“As we’ve been clear, Israel must take every precaution possible to protect civilians,” a US National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement.

“We are actively engaging the IDF and partners on the ground to assess what happened,” the spokesperson added.

Gaza’s civil defense agency said the strike ignited a fire that tore through a displacement center in northwestern Rafah near a facility of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

“The devastating images following an IDF strike in Rafah last night that killed dozens of innocent Palestinians are heartbreaking,” the NSC spokesperson said.

The Israeli military said it had launched a probe into the strike which it said was carried out based on “precise intelligence information” about two Hamas militants who it said were killed.

It launched the attack on Rafah hours after Hamas unleashed a barrage of rockets towards the Tel Aviv area, most of which were intercepted.

The NSC spokesperson said that “Israel has a right to go after Hamas, and we understand this strike killed two senior Hamas terrorists who are responsible for attacks against Israeli civilians,” before imploring more caution.

The Gaza war broke out after the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,050 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)