Israel-Lebanon latest: Israel on high alert as Hezbollah confirms leader Hassan Nasrallah killed in strike
Lebanon’s militant group fires back as Israeli launches further strikes on Beirut
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The Israeli mililtary warned it was on high alert as Hezbollah confirmed that its leader Hassan Nasrallah had been assassinated in an airstrike in Beirut, 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 had led Hezbollah for more than three decades, and the group vowed to continue its battle against Israel.
On Saturday morning, Israel 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 said it had called up three more battalions of reservists, having earlier sent two brigades to northern Israel to train for a possible ground invasion of Lebanon.
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What is Hezbollah, the group battling Israel in Lebanon?
Beirut strike was aimed at Hezbollah leaders, says Israeli aide
Top Hezbollah commanders were the target of Israel’s strike on the group’s central headquarters in Beirut’s suburbs on Friday but it was too early to say whether the attack took out its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, a senior Israeli official has said.
“I think it’s too early to say, but, you know, it’s a question of time. Sometimes they hide the fact when we succeed,” the official said when asked if the Israeli strike on Friday had killed Nasrallah.
The Israeli military said it had targeted Iran-backed Hezbollah’s central headquarters in Beirut.
Asked how long it might take to determine the fate of Nasrallah, the senior Israeli official said: “Certainly if he’s alive, you’ll know it very immediately. If he’s dead, it may take some time.”
The official, who was briefing reporters in New York on condition of anonymity, said: “We cannot survive if we don’t stop this and reverse it,” referring to the threat to Israel from Iran-backed militia in the region.
“It’s impossible to reverse it without a general war. That was the assumption, a general war with Hezbollah, which, of course, entails the possibility of a broader war with Iran.”
Choices will have profound consequences for years, Blinken warns
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the choices all parties in the Middle East make in the coming days will determine which path the region takes and have profound consequences for years to come.
On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the United States’ top diplomat said Washington had made clear it believed the way forward was through diplomacy, not conflict.
Hezbollah missile commander Muhammad Ali Ismail ‘killed'
Israeli military said in a statement on Saturday that it has killed commander of Hezbollah’s missile unit Muhammad Ali Ismail and his deputy Hossein Ahmed Ismail in southern Lebanon.
Netanyahu warns Iran Israel can strike anywhere
Full report:
Netanyahu warns Iran that Israel can strike anywhere as it hits Hezbollah’s Beirut HQ
Bellicose Israeli leader tells UN ‘we are winning’ the battle against Hezbollah ahead of the airstrike – which ‘targeted’ the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah
Pictures of latest Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon
Latest from IDF after new strikes in Lebanon
An Israeli Defence Force spokesperson said in a statement: “The IDF is currently conducting targeted strikes on weapons belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization that were stored beneath civilian buildings in the area of Dahieh in Beirut.”
Joe Biden has directed the Pentagon to adjust US forces in Middle East after another Israeli strike in Lebanon
President Joe Biden has directed the Pentagon to “assess and adjust as necessary US force posture” in the Middle East, the White House said after Israeli strikes in Beirut.
“He has directed the Pentagon to assess and adjust as necessary U.S. force posture in the region to enhance deterrence, ensure force protection, and support the full range of U.S. objectives,” the White House said in a statement.
Israel said they had targeted the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group in fresh strikes across southern Lebanon.
Israeli military says it has unleashed more strikes on southern Beirut
The Israeli military said Friday it was striking in southern Beirut, in a statement released by the military.
Beirut attacks targeted terrorists, says Israeli UN ambassador
Israel’s attack on southern Beirut that caused huge explosions targeted a “meeting of bad people” planning more attacks on Israel, the country’s UN ambassador Danny Danon has said.
“When I said this was a meeting of bad actors, Nasrallah is a bad actor. He’s a terrorist. He has the blood on his hands for many Americans, thousands of Israelis, so I think he should be punished for that. I cannot confirm now whether he was at that meeting or not, but when I speak about bad actors, he’s one of them,” Mr Danon said.
Lebanon’s health ministry said there were two dead and 76 wounded from the Israeli strikes, describing it as a preliminary toll.
Top Hezbollah leaders ‘unreachable'
Hezbollah’s senior leadership was unreachable following Israel’s strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday evening, a source close to the Lebanese armed group told Reuters.
Hours after the strikes, Hezbollah had not made a statement on the fate of its head, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
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