Friday Briefing: Israel Targets Hezbollah’s Remaining Leaders

Briefing|Friday Briefing: Israel Targets Hezbollah’s Remaining Leaders

Israel targets Hezbollah’s remaining leadership

Israel said it bombed an underground bunker where senior Hezbollah officials were meeting at midnight local time. The targets included Hashem Safieddine, the presumed successor to Hassan Nasrallah, the group’s recently assassinated leader, Israeli officials said. Here’s what we know about Safieddine.

A series of huge explosions rocked Dahiya, a stronghold of the group, in the densely populated suburbs just south of Beirut, after Israeli warplanes struck. Shock waves rocked buildings across the Lebanese capital. The latest attacks were a sign that Israel had not let up on its campaign to eliminate the leadership of the Iranian-backed group.

Israel is now carrying out major operations on multiple fronts. Earlier, an Israeli warplane carried out an airstrike on the West Bank; Palestinian health officials said at least 18 people were killed. In Gaza, Israel carried out numerous strikes. Local health officials reported that nearly 100 people had been killed over the previous 24 hours, the highest daily toll there in the past three months.

Israel’s military warned residents of more than 20 towns and cities in Lebanon’s south to leave their homes immediately.

Oil: Prices jumped after President Biden, when asked if he would support an Israeli strike on Iran’s oil facilities, said, “We’re discussing that.” Iran’s oil infrastructure accounts for about 2 percent of the world’s supply.

Iran: The country’s leaders are already threatening to hit back if Israeli retaliates for Iran’s missile strike earlier this week. But in interviews, on social media and in virtual town hall discussions, many Iranians said anxiety about war was rising.