Israel attacks Lebanon, putting pressure on Hezbollah after killing the country’s leader
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrike sites on September 29, 2024 in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon.
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Israel struck multiple targets in Lebanon on Sunday, putting pressure on Iran-backed Hezbollah with more strikes after it dealt a blow by killing the group’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
The Israeli military said the air force “attacked dozens of Hezbollah terrorist targets in Lebanon, including launch pads aimed at Israeli territory, weapons storage facilities and additional infrastructure.” for Hezbollah terrorists”.
In a statement, the navy said it intercepted a projectile approaching Israel from the Red Sea area and eight other projectiles coming from Lebanon fell in open areas.
Nasrallah was killed in a major Israeli airstrike on Friday targeting the group’s headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut. It was a blow to Hezbollah and Iran, removing an influential ally that had helped build Hezbollah into a mainstay of Tehran’s network of allied groups in the Arab world.
Israel claimed to have killed him on Saturday and Hezbollah later confirmed his death.
In its announcement, Hezbollah said it would continue to fight Israel and continued to fire rockets into the country, including a barrage on Sunday morning.
Nasrallah’s death ended a traumatic two weeks for Hezbollah, which began with the detonation of thousands of communications devices used by its members.
Israel is believed to have carried out that action but has not confirmed or denied it.
Heavily damaged homes surround buildings that were razed on September 27 by Israeli strikes that targeted and killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in the Haret Hreik neighborhood, a southern suburb of Beirut , on September 29, 2024.
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The escalation raises concerns that the conflict could spiral out of control, potentially drawing in Iran as well as the United States, Israel’s closest ally.
Hezbollah and Israel have been fighting in parallel Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas since the Iran-backed Palestinian group’s attack on Israel on October 7 last year.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said 33 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon on Saturday, bringing the total number of deaths since the conflict broke out on October 8 last year to more than 1,670, in There were 104 children.
In Beirut, displaced families spent the night on benches at Zaitunay Bay, a chain of restaurants and cafes on the Beirut waterfront where private security forces often chase away any loiterers .
On Sunday morning, families had nothing but a bag of clothes with a mat to sleep on and pour themselves tea.
Francoise said: “You will not be able to destroy us, no matter what you do, no matter how much you bomb, no matter how much you displace people – we will stay here. We will don’t leave. This is our country and we will stay.” Azori, a resident of Beirut jogged through the area.
The United Nations World Food Program said in a statement on Sunday that it had launched an emergency operation to provide food to up to 1 million people affected by the conflict in Lebanon.
‘Balance of power’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Nasrallah’s killing was a necessary step to “change the balance of power in the region for years to come”.
“Nasrallah is not a terrorist, he is a terrorist,” Netanyahu said in a statement, warning of challenging days ahead.
Israel said it killed senior Hezbollah official Ali Karaki and other commanders along with Nasrallah.
US President Joe Biden described Nasrallah’s death as a measure of justice for what he called his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis and Lebanese, and said the US fully supported Israel’s right to self-defense.
But when asked whether an Israeli ground attack on Lebanon was inevitable, Mr. Biden told reporters on Saturday: “It’s time for a ceasefire.”
View of the ruins of the building where Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah was killed, after an Israeli military airstrike, carried out by F-35 fighter jets, in Dahieh, Beirut, Lebanon on May 29 September 2024.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images
Sources told Reuters that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was transferred to a secure location in Iran following Nasrallah’s killing. Khamenei said Nasrallah’s death would be avenged and his path of fighting in the war with Israel would be pursued by other fighters.
Tehran calls for a meeting at the United Nations Security Council on Israel’s actions in Lebanon and elsewhere in the region, warning against any attacks on the country’s diplomatic facilities and representatives This.
A senior member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, deputy commander Abbas Nilforoushan, was also killed in Friday’s attacks, Iranian media reported.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel’s war is not aimed at the Lebanese people. He held talks late Saturday on the possibility of expanding Israel’s military offensive on the northern front, his office said.
Hezbollah has said it will only cease fire when Israel’s attack on Gaza ends. Hamas and other allies of Hezbollah issued statements mourning his death.
Christian condolences
Lebanon’s top Christian cleric, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, said Nasrallah’s killing had “caused a wound in the hearts of the Lebanese people”.
Rai has previously criticized Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah, accusing the group of dragging Lebanon into regional conflicts.
“We send our personal condolences to the family and community of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,” he said in a sermon.
Hezbollah’s weapons arsenal has long been a point of contention in Lebanon, a country with a history of civil conflict. Critics of Hezbollah in Lebanon say the group has unilaterally dragged the country into conflict and weakened the state.
