By The Independent (World News) | Created at 2024-09-28 10:40:19 | Updated at 2024-09-30 05:20:09
1 day ago
Israeli military carried out a strike on Hezbollah leadership south of Beirut on Friday
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The Israeli mililtary has said it is on high alert after claiming to have killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a strike in Beirut, in a major development amplifying fears of a wider war in the Middle East.
The airstrike was carried out as Hezbollah’s leadership met at their headquarters in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh. Ali Karki, the commander of Hezbollah’s southern front was among several commanders also killed in the attack, the Israeli military claimed.
The Lebanese health ministry said six people were killed and 91 injured in the strikes – which levelled six apartment buildings.
Nasrallah has lead Hezbollah for more than three decades. There was no immediate comment from the group.
On Saturday morning, the Israeli military maintained its barrage of strikes in southern Beirut and eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, as Hezbollah launched dozens of projectiles across northern and central Israel and the Israel-occupied West Bank.
Israel also said it had called up three more battalions of reservists, after earlier sending two brigades to northern Israel to train for a possible ground invasion.
Iran’s Khamenei says ‘fate of region will be determined by forces of resistance'
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has urged people “to stand by the people of Lebanon and the proud Hezbollah with whatever means they have and assist them in confronting the ... wicked regime [of Israel]”.
Following Israel’s claim to have killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, Iranian state media reported Mr Khamenei as saying: “The fate of this region will be determined by the forces of resistance, with Hezbollah at the forefront.”
His remarks come after two regional officials briefed by Tehran told Reuters that Khamenei had been transferred to a secure location inside the country with heightened security measures in place.
Andy Gregory28 September 2024 11:35
Hassan Nasrallah: Man who led Hezbollah for three decades
Under the leadership of the 64-year-old Nasrallah, Hezbollah has fought wars against Israel and taken part in the conflict in neighbouring Syria, helping tip the balance of power in favour of president Bashar Assad.
A charismatic and shrewd strategist, Hassan Nasrallah reshaped Hezbollah into an arch-enemy of Israel, cementing alliances with Shia religious leaders in Iran and Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas.
Idolised by his Lebanese Shia followers and respected by millions of others across the Arab and Islamic world, Nasrallah holds the title of sayyid, an honorific meant to signify the Shia cleric’s lineage dating back to the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam.
A fiery orator viewed as an extremist in the US and much of the West, he is also considered a pragmatist compared to the firebrand militants who dominated Hezbollah after its founding in 1982, during Lebanon’s civil war.
Despite the power he wields, Nasrallah has lived largely in hiding in the past years for fear of an Israeli assassination.
Andy Gregory28 September 2024 11:26
Lebanon prevents Iranian aircraft from entering airspace after Israeli threat, source claims
Lebanon’s transport ministry told an Iranian aircraft not to enter its airspace after Israel warned air traffic control at Beirut airport that it would use “force” if the plane landed, a source at the ministry told Reuters.
The source said it was not clear what was on the plane, adding: “The priority is people’s lives.”
Andy Gregory28 September 2024 11:06
Israel ‘ready for a wider escalation’, military says
No new instructions have been given to Israeli civilians regarding home front readiness, Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters, as current guidelines already put much of the country on high alert.
“Hezbollah has been escalating this for a year ... Iran is obviously behind this, it’s no secret,” the Israeli military spokesperson said. “They’re backing Hamas, they’re backing Hezbollah and other proxies. They even attacked us directly in April.
“So are we ready for a wider escalation? Yes. We’ve been in a wider escalation, a multi-front war, for a year. Our forces are on high alert, our intelligence is up and looking for these types of threats.”
Andy Gregory28 September 2024 10:55
Israel on high alert for broader conflict after killing Hezbollah chief, military official says
Israel is on high alert for a broader conflict after the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, but hopes his death will cause the Iran-backed group to change course, a military spokesperson has said.
“We hope this will change Hezbollah’s actions,” Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said in a media briefing after the military claimed it had killed Nasrallah.
But he claimed there was still more to be done to degrade Hezbollah’s capabilities.
“We’ve seen Hezbollah carry out attacks against us for a year. It’s safe to assume that they are going to continue carrying out their attacks against us or try to,” he said.
Andy Gregory28 September 2024 10:40
Lebanon says it is retaliating with attacks in northern Israel
In the wake of Israel’s claims to have killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, the militant group said it had targeted Israeli sites – including Rosh Pina in the north – with missiles in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanese cities, villages and civilians.
Andy Gregory28 September 2024 10:37
Who is Hassan Nasrallah?
The Israeli military said on Saturday it had killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on the group’s central headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah has yet to issue any statement on the status of Nasrallah, who has led the group for 32 years.
During Nasrallah’s decades in charge, Hezbollah has grown into a regional force that has projected Tehran’s influence across the Middle East.
His death would not only mark an enormous blow to Hezbollah, but also to Iran, whose Revolutionary Guards founded the group in 1982.
Bassem Mroue has more on the Hezbollah leader here:
Andy Gregory28 September 2024 10:32
Iran’s Khamenei ‘moved to a secure location’
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been transferred to a secure location inside the country with heightened security measures in place, Reuters has quoted two regional officials briefed by Tehran as saying.
The sources said Iran was in constant contact with Hezbollah and other regional proxy groups to determine the next steps after Israel announced that it had killed the Lebanese militant group’s chief Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on south Beirut on Friday.
Andy Gregory28 September 2024 10:21
Claimed death of Nasrallah ‘not the end of our toolbox’, Israeli military chief says
The Israeli military’s chief of staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, said the elimination of Nasrallah was “not the end of our toolbox,” indicating that more strikes were planned.
He said that the strike targeting Hezbollah leadership was the result of a long period of preparation.
Andy Gregory28 September 2024 10:05
Contact with Nasrallah ‘lost’ since Friday evening, source close to Hezbollah says
A source close to Hezbollah told Agence France-Presse that contact with the group’s chief Hassan Nasrallah had been “lost” since last evening, after Israel said it had killed him in a strike in southern Beirut.
“Contact with Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has been lost since Friday evening,” the source said. He did not confirm whether Nasrallah had been killed.
Andy Gregory28 September 2024 09:57
