Israeli strike on Beirut on Friday killed 37, Lebanese ministry says
Hezbollah says 16 members killed, including two senior leaders
Israeli officials say actions are part of new war phase
UN official calls for end to violence, citing devastating consequences
Adds detail on search, comments by Israeli army, Lebanese PM, Sullivan, adds context, in paragraphs 1, 6, 10-13
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, Sept 21 (Reuters) -An Israeli airstrike that targeted Hezbollah commanders in a Beirut suburb on Friday killed at least 37 people, including three children and seven women, the Lebanese health ministry said, and rescuers were still searching on Saturday for people missing in the rubble.
Hezbollah said overnight that 16 of its members including senior leader Ibrahim Aqil and another top commander, Ahmed Wahbi, were among those killed in the deadliest strike in nearly a year of conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group.
The Israeli army, in posts on X, said the strike hit an underground gathering of Aqil and senior commanders of Hezbollah's elite Radwan forces, and had "almost completely dismantled" Hezbollah's military chain of command.
The attack levelled a multi-story residential building in the crowded suburb and a nursery next door was damaged, a security source said.
Heavy cross-border strikes continued on Saturday, with Israeli warplanes carrying out some of the heaviest bombardment in 11 months of fighting across Lebanon's south and Hezbollah claiming rocket attacks on military targets in Israel's north.
The Israeli army said it hit around 180 targets, destroying thousands of rocket launch barrels.
Friday's strike sharply escalated the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, and inflicted another blow on Hezbollah after two days of attacks this week in which pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded.
The total death toll in those attacks has risen to 39, and more than 3,000 were injured.
The attacks on communications devices were widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati cancelled a planned trip to the U.N. General Assembly in New York over the escalating conflict, his office said in a statement.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said he was worried about an escalation between Israel and Lebanon but that the Israeli killing of a top Hezbollah leader brought justice to the group,which Washington designates as a terrorist group.
"While the risk of escalation is real, we actually believe there is also a distinct avenue to getting to a cessation of hostilities and a durable solution that makes people on both sides of the border feel secure," Sullivan told reporters in the U.S. state of Delaware.
Hezbollah has said it will keep fighting Israel until it agrees to a ceasefire in its war against Hamas in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza - triggered by a Hamas-led rampage in southern Israel on Oct. 7. U.S. officials say that is unlikely to come anytime soon. Israel wants Hezbollah to cease fire and withdraw its forces from the border region irrespective of any Gaza deal.
MISSING PEOPLE
Hezbollah-aligned transport minister Ali Hamieh told reporters at the scene of Friday's strike that at least 23 people were still missing.
"The Israeli enemy is taking the region to war,"he said.
Hezbollah confirmed Aqil's death in a statement just after midnight that called him "one of its top leaders".
It said overnight that 15 other members were also killed, including senior commander Wahbi, who oversaw the military operations of the Radwan forces during the Gaza war until early 2024.
In a brief statement on Friday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's goals were clear and its actions spoke for themselves.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who said this week Israel was launching a new phase of war on the northern border, posted on X: "The sequence of actions in the new phase will continue until our goal is achieved: the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes."
Tens of thousands of people have left their homes on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border since Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel in October in sympathy with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel's military said on Saturday that airspace in northern Israel - from the city of Hadera north - was closed to private flights, but that the measure did not affect international flights.
"These restrictions were set in place to maintain the security of flights and in accordance with operational activity," the military said.
'DANGEROUS CYCLE OF VIOLENCE'
With at least 70 people killed in Lebanon this week, the death toll in the country since October has surpassed 740. The current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is the worst since they fought an all-out war in 2006.
The U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine-Hennis Plasschaert, said on Friday the strike in a densely populated area of Beirut's southern suburbs was part of "an extremely dangerous cycle of violence with devastating consequences. This must stop now".
Friday's strike was the second time in less than two months that Israel has targeted a leading Hezbollah military commander in Beirut. In July, an Israeli airstrike killed Fuad Shukr, the group's top military commander.
While the current conflict has largely been contained to areas at or near the frontier, this week's escalation has heightened concerns that it could widen and further intensify.
Reporting by Maya Gebeily, Hatem Maher, Adam Makary and Ari Rabinovitch
Writing by Frances Kerry and Timour Azhari
Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Timothy Heritage
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