Massive Explosions Rock Beirut; Biden Says Hitting Iran's Oil Sector Under Discussion

Multiple explosions from Israeli air strikes rocked the suburbs of Beirut late on October 3 as the United States said it is discussing strikes on Iran's oil facilities as retaliation for Tehran's missile attack on Israel earlier this week.

Giant balls of flames could be seen shooting into the night sky around the Lebanese capital hours after the Israeli Army had sent evacuation orders to residents in several areas of the city.

Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported "more than 10 consecutive strikes,” which it called “one of the strongest raids on the southern suburbs of Beirut since the start of the Israeli war on Lebanon."

The Israeli military did not comment on the target of the strikes, but some media and analysts speculated that the location, size, and scope indicated that it could be Hashem Safieddine, who is widely considered the front-runner to take over the leadership of Hezbollah -- a militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon.

The group’s previous leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed last week in Israeli air strikes on a command center for Hezbollah, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union blacklists its armed wing but not its political party, which has seats in the Lebanese parliament.

Israel’s incursion into Lebanon, which was launched earlier this week, has sparked fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East.

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5

Will Iran's Attacks On Israel Trigger A Regional Blowup?

Those concerns were exacerbated when Tehran launched a massive ballistic-missile attack on Israel on October 1, its largest so far, in retaliation for the campaign started by the Jewish state in southern Lebanon against Iran-backed Hezbollah, prompting warnings of countermeasures from Israel and its main ally, the United States.

With Israel weighing its options to respond, U.S. President Joe Biden, when asked by reporters in Washington on October 3 whether the White House supports strikes on Iran's oil facilities, said: “We’re discussing that.”

"There is nothing going to happen today," Biden said a day after he noted he would not support an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites.

Iran's military has warned it would launch broader strikes if Israel responds to its October 1 missile attack.

Earlier on October 3, an Israeli a strike on an apartment building in downtown Beirut killed nine in what was the first attack on the center of the Lebanese capital since 2006.

Israel said its air strike on Beirut was a precise operation, while a security source said that the target was an apartment building in the capital's central district of Bachoura, near the Lebanese parliament.

A Hezbollah-linked civil defense group said seven of its members, including two medics, had been killed in the Beirut attack.

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5

Aftermath Of Israeli Attack On Beirut

The Israeli Army also urged the immediate evacuation of more than 20 towns in south Lebanon including the provincial capital, Nabatieh, a move that apparently indicates the Israeli operation against Hezbollah is about to be expanded.

The latest Israeli strikes also came a day after Israel reported that eight of its soldiers were killed during its incursion in south Lebanon -- the deadliest day for the Israeli military since launching the cross-border raid this week.

Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned the German and Austrian ambassadors on October 3 after their governments rebuked Tehran over its missile attack on Israel, according to Iranian state news agency IRNA.

The move came in response to "unacceptable measures" by Germany and Austria in summoning Iran's envoys over the October 1 attack.

Israeli air defenses intercepted most of the estimated 180 missiles that were fired, though some landed in central and southern Israel.