BEIRUT, October 10. /TASS/. Wafiq Safa, the chief of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah Shia movement’s intelligence unit who is believed to have been the target of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut earlier on Thursday, has survived, the Al Mayadeen TV channel reported, citing a Hezbollah source.

According to the source, "the attempt to kill Wafiq Safa has failed; he survived."

A TASS correspondent reported earlier that Israeli aircraft had targeted two buildings in downtown Beirut, which housed Hezbollah’s medical centers. Rescue operations continue in the Ras al-Nabaa and al-Nuweiri neighborhoods. Firefighters have been able to evacuate the residents trapped on the upper floors in one of the buildings.

According to the latest data from the Lebanese Health Ministry, the attack killed 22 people left 117 injured.

On September 23, Israel launched Operation Northern Arrows against the Lebanon-based Hezbollah Shia movement, carrying out massive airstrikes on its military targets. The stated goal is to create safe conditions for the return of local residents to Israel’s northern border areas. A September 27 strike on Beirut killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The Israeli army announced the start of a ground operation in the border areas of southern Lebanon in the early hours of October 1.