Israel and Hezbollah have been trading strikes as death toll from Beirut attack rises

 Israel and the militant group Hezbollah traded strikes into Sunday as the death toll from a "targeted attack" by the Israeli military on a Beirut suburb Friday rose to 37, including seven women and three children, Lebanon's health minister said Saturday. The U.S. meanwhile urged all American citizens in Lebanon to leave the country immediately.

Firass Abiad said 68 people were injured in the attack on Friday, with 15 of them still in hospital. He said search and rescue efforts are ongoing, and the death toll is not likely to stop there.

The attack - the deadliest to strike Beirut since the war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 - hit a crowded southern neighborhood on Friday afternoon during rush hour as people returned home.

The Israeli military said Saturday it killed 16 Hezbollah operatives. Killed in the incidents were Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil, who headed the group's elite Radwan Force and Ahmed Wahbi, a senior commander in the group's military wing. Iran-backed Hezbollah said Friday night that 15 of its operatives were killed by Israeli forces, but did not elaborate on the location of these deaths.

The US had already announced a "reward of up to $7 million for information leading to the identification, location, arrest, and or conviction" of Aqil, who it claimed was one of Hezbollah's leaders in the 1980s, when the group took responsibility for the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing over 300 people, as well as the U.S. Marines barracks in October 1983, which killed 241 U.S. personnel.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan characterized Akil's death as "a good outcome" and said he had "American blood on his hands" for the embassy attack.

"You know, 1983 seems like a long time ago," Sullivan said. "But for a lot of families and a lot of people, they're still living with it every day."

Lebanon Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Saturday he will not travel to New York for the United Nations General Assembly later this month due to the ongoing acts of violence with Israel.

Israeli and Hezbollah forces have been pounding each other as the United States urges Americans to leave Lebanon.

Between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. local time Sunday, Israel Defense Forces said some 85 rockets from Lebanon landed in northern Israel.
Intercepted and others landed in Kiryat Bialik, Tsur Shalom, and Moreshet, IDF said. Israeli emergency crews responded to "extinguish numerous fires ignited in the area," IDF reported. It was not known whether people were injured or killed.

Earlier Sunday morning, Hezbollah announced that it had fired a salvo of missiles at a military base deep inside Israel. It was not immediately clear if any of the rockets hit their target.
Magen David Adom, Israel's emergency services agency, reported that by Sunday morning at least four people in northern Israel had been injured by shrapnel in the strikes with mild to moderate injuries.
The Israeli military said that around 90 rockets had been fired from Lebanon at northern Israel on Saturday and that Israel struck over 400 rocket launchers in Lebanon.
It was not known if anyone had been killed or wounded in the cross-border attacks between Israel and Hezbollah.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli Defense Forces spokesman, said that new safety measures have been established north of Haifa; gathering in open and enclosed areas is presently limited to 30 and 300 persons, respectively. Work and school can be attended to in case the public can reach the protected areas in time.
In practice, the new guidelines probably spell school cancellation in parts of the north, as students and their teachers would not be able to reach shelters in time.
As little as an hour after the announcement Sunday classes were canceled in at least one border region in western Galilee. The cancellations extend far beyond the usual five-kilometer evacuation zone in northern Israel.

The US Department of State issued a travel advisory on Saturday calling for Americans to leave Lebanon by commercial means while these are still possible. According to the statement, flights have still remained available but at reduced capacity, and it added that the US Embassy may not be able to assist its citizens if they decide to stay. The statement added that US citizens should not travel to Lebanon as the group conflict between Hezbollah and Israel is becoming too volatile.

More details on Israel's Beirut strike

Wahbi was an commander described playing key roles in Hezbollah for years and was detained in southern Lebanon inside an Israeli jail in 1984. Hezbollah told reporters that he was a "field commanders" during a 1997 ambush in southern Lebanon, which killed 12 Israeli troops.

The militant group members were in a meeting in the basement of the building that was destroyed, Israel's military said.

Lebanese soldiers surrounded the place, preventing anyone from approaching the building that was knocked down since those from the Lebanese Red Cross stood nearby to collect any recovered bodies from the rubble. On Saturday morning, Hezbollah's media office took journalists on a tour of the scene of the airstrike where people were still digging through the rubble.

We will continue searching for the people until they are all found," said Ali Hamie, the minister of public works and transport, at the site. "There are 23 persons who have not been found.".

The airstrike on the busy Qaim street knocked out an eight-story building that housed 16 apartments and damaged another one next to it. An Associated Press journalist at the scene described the missiles as having destroyed the first building and cut through the basement of the second, where a meeting of Hezbollah officials was underway.

Some shops not so far away were badly damaged, one selling clothes, with a sign in English: "DRESS LIKE YOU'RE ALREADY FAMOUS."