Israel-Hezbollah latest: Netanyahu says would-be Hezbollah leader Safieddine killed in airstrike
Israel has pushed into south-west Lebanon after days of fighting on the south eastern side of the country
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Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israeli forces have killed the would-be successor of the late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
In a pre-recorded video message, the Israeli prime minister said: “We’ve degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities. We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of the replacement.”
Earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Hashem Safieddine, the man expected to replace the Nasrallah, had probably been “eliminated”.
Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official, has not been heard from publicly since an Israeli airstrike late last week. He has been a prime target for Israel, nurtured as an influential leader and potential heir.
The Israeli military also said on Tuesday that it had killed Suhail Husseini – who was responsible for overseeing Hezbollah logistics, budget and management – the night before.
The claims come as the Israeli military expanded its ground invasion of southern Lebanon by deploying another division of thousands of troops and Hezbollah launched barrages of rockets towards the northern Israeli port city of Haifa on Tuesday for the third consecutive day, injuring 12 people.
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Israeli air force strike school being used by Hezbollah, military claims
The Israeli Air Force destroyed a school in southern Lebanon being used by Hezbollah to launch rockets at northern Israel, the Israeli military claimed.
“Over the past few hours, Israeli Air Force fighter jets have continued to strike Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon, including launchers, terrorist infrastructure sites, and anti-tank missile launchers,” the military said.
“During Israeli military operational activity in the area, the Israeli air force struck Hezbollah observation posts, anti-tank missile launchers, and ambush posts.”
Keir Starmer takes aim at ‘malign’ Iran and vows never to ban all arms sales to Israel
Sir Keir Starmer used the first anniversary of Hamas’s barbaric terrorist attack on Israel to urge the international community to turn its focus on the “malign” regime in Iran.
In a carefully crafted statement in the Commons to commemorate the 7 October atrocity, which sparked war in the Middle East, Sir Keir’s message to MPs was that the ayatollahs who rule Iran must be held to account and forced to take responsibility for the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the region.
He said his government “will never stop selling weapons to Israel”, despite calls from French president Emmanuel Macron for a full arms embargo.
Read the full article here:
Starmer takes aim at ‘malign’ Iran and vows never to ban all arms sales to Israel
Starmer tells MPs: ‘This was not a defensive action by Iran, it was an act of aggression’
Pictured: Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel
Pictured: Aftermath of Beirut strikes
MI5 has thwarted 20 Iran-backed plots since 2022, chief says
British intelligence has thwarted 20 Iran-backed plots that presented “potentially lethal threats” to British citizens since 2022, MI5’s chief said.
“Since 2022 we’ve seen plot after plot here in the UK, at an unprecedented pace and scale,” MI5 director general Ken McCallum said.
“As events unfold in the Middle East, we will give our fullest attention to the risk of an increase in – or broadening of – Iranian state aggression in the UK,” he added.
Supporters of Iran in UK will face full weight of state, MI5 warns
Anyone acting on behalf of Iran, Russia or other hostile state actors in the UK will face the “full weight” of Britain’s national security apparatus, MI5 has warned.
MI5 chief Ken McCallum said: “To those tempted to carry out such tasks, I say this: If you take money from Iran, Russia or any other state to carry out illegal acts in the UK, you will bring the full weight of the national security apparatus down on you. It’s a choice you’ll regret.”
Pictured: Aftermath of Hezbollah rocket attacks
UK facing heightened threat of ‘plot after plot’ from Iran, warns MI5 chief
British intelligence is facing a “hell of a job” over rising threats from Iran and Russia, as well as the resurgence of Isis and Al-Qaeda, the head of MI5 has warned.
A day after Sir Keir Starmer called on the international community to focus on the “malign” regime in Iran, which supports proxies across the Middle East including Hamas and Hezbollah, Ken McCallum said British intelligence has thwarted 20 Tehran-backed plots that “presented potentially lethal threats to British citizens” since the start of 2022.
With fears growing of all-out war across the Middle East with Israel expanding a ground invasion in Lebanon against Hezbollah and a year-long war in Gaza against Hamas, after the 7 October terror attack, the director general of MI5 said British intelligence were “powerfully alive to the risk that events in the Middle East directly trigger terrorist action in the UK”.
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UK facing threat of ‘plot after plot’ from Iran, warns MI5 chief
Ken McCallum says Russian intelligence agencies are also on a ‘sustained mission to generate mayhem on British and European streets’ with ‘arson, sabotage and more’
Hezbollah signals interest in ceasefire
Hezbollah has signalled an interest in a ceasefire with Israel after the group’s leadership was wiped out and the Israeli military pusher further into southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem said he supported attempts to secure a truce, and for the first time did not mention the end of war in Gaza as a pre-condition to halting combat on the Lebanon-Israel border.
Qassem said he supported attempts by Lebanon’s speaker of parliament Nabih Berri to seek a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
“We support the political activity being led by Berri under the title of a ceasefire,” Qassem said in his 30-minute televised address.
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