Hundreds mourn children killed in Beirut blast as border violence threatens to spiral

The grief at the funeral for two young children in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, was palpable.

Children weeping, girls clinging to each other, women openly sobbing.

The young brother and sister were killed in the Israeli ‘targeted’ assassination of one of Hezbollah’s top commanders Fahd Shukr.

But the Israeli blast – at dusk and in a heavily populated residential area – impacted at least nine buildings, including a hospital, and killed four civilians (including the two children and two women) and left more than 70 wounded.

The children’s funeral drew hundreds of mourners to the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital.

The building where the commander was looks as though the top few floors have been crushed by the bomb.

His body took a night and day to dig out – along with the body of an Iranian military adviser named as Milad Bidi.

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The Israeli prime minister immediately claimed the strike as a “crushing blow” against Iranian proxies in the region.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the assassination of the Hamas chief negotiator Ismail Haniyeh about 12 hours later in Tehran, but that is also widely being attributed to them.

The twin strikes have left the region at its most dangerous point of potentially imploding in the 10 months of continuous bombardment in Gaza, and thousands of cross-border attacks between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Israeli military.

Nearly 200,000 people have had to flee their homes on either side of the border because of the tit-for-tat strikes.

Diplomats and politicians have now been left scrambling to try to put a lid on emotions and are doubling down on their urgings for maximum restraint.

The Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is due to remotely address the Lebanese nation on Thursday at the funeral of the commander who was recognised as his deputy – his right-hand man.

There is certain to be much anger among those present – once again directed at their neighbour.

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This continuing cycle of violence is deepening the suspicion and hatred between the two neighbours.

Whatever Nasrallah says will be keenly watched and examined by all those in the region.

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But all expectations are the violence is unlikely to stop here.

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