About a million Lebanese have been displaced by Israeli attacks, including hundreds of thousands since yesterday, Nasser Yassin, the minister in charge of coordinating the government's response to the crisis in the country, told Reuters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the killing of Hezbollah leader Sayed Hassan Nasrallah was a historic turning point that could change the balance of power in the Middle East, although he warned of challenging days ahead, the Guardian reports.
"Nasrallah was not only a terrorist, he was a terrorist of terrorists. Nasrallah's killing was a necessary step towards achieving the goals we set - returning the residents of the north safely to their homes and changing the balance of power in the region for years to come," he said. he.
He added that there is no place in Iran or the Middle East that the long arm of Israel will not reach.
"Even today, you already know how true that is," Netanyahu said.
The Israeli military is preparing for possible ground operations in Lebanon, but will only conduct them if necessary, military spokesman Peter Lerner told CNN.
He said that the Chief of the General Staff, Herci Halevi, had discussed this option with the reserve forces earlier this Sunday.
However, the Israeli military's primary objective in dealing with Hezbollah is to restore safety and security in northern Israel so that the 60.000 Israelis who fled the area can return home, Lerner said.
Speaking about the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Lerner said the Israeli military targeted him because he was building a huge arsenal of weapons, including 200.000 rockets, missiles and drones, solely for the purpose of going to war against Israel.
He added that Israel has been conducting extensive intelligence monitoring since 2006 to understand Hezbollah.
Lerner said Israel carried out airstrikes both before and after Nasrallah's death, which eliminated a senior intelligence official and strategic resources belonging to Hezbollah.
American Vice President Kamala Harris also said, like Biden, that the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was a measure of justice.
"Hassan Nasrallah was a terrorist with American blood on his hands. Over the decades, his leadership of Hezbollah destabilized the Middle East and led to the murder of countless innocent people in Lebanon, Israel, Syria and around the world. Today, the victims of Hezbollah have received a measure of justice," she said. Harris in a statement released by her office.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, said that he is very concerned about the dramatic escalation of events in Beirut in the last 24 hours.
"This cycle of violence must stop immediately. All parties must step back from the brink. The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel, as well as the wider region, cannot afford total war," Guterres wrote on the X social network.
Commenting on the attacks on Lebanon that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, while demolishing six residential buildings, killing more people and causing dozens of injuries, as well as forcibly displacing thousands of Lebanese and Syrian civilians, US President Joe Biden called the move "a measure of justice".
"The attack that killed Nasrallah took place in the wider context of a conflict that began with the massacre of Hamas on October 7, 2023. The next day, Nasrallah made the fateful decision to ally with Hamas and open what he called a 'northern front' against Israel… United States "We fully support Israel's right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and any other terrorist groups supported by Iran," Biden added.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that a senior Hezbollah intelligence leader, Hasan Khalil Yassin, was killed in one of its airstrikes in the Dahiya area of Beirut.
The IDF alleged that Yassin worked with Hezbollah offensive units to personally plan terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians on the northern border and deep inside Israeli territory.
Hezbollah has not publicly commented on the Israeli claim.
"By God's grace and strength, the blows that the Resistance Front is dealing with the worn out, decaying body of the Zionist regime will become even stronger," said Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"The criminal Zionist regime did not emerge victorious by committing this crime," he added, referring to the death of Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
Khamenei spent five days of mourning in the country after Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli attack on Friday in Beirut.
Russia, which is an ally of Iran, announced today that it strongly condemns the killing of the leader of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, in an Israeli strike in Beirut.
"We strongly condemn the new political murder committed by Israel," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The announcement states that Israel bears full responsibility for the dramatic consequences that the assassination of the Hezbollah leader could have in the region.
"We ask Israel to immediately cease hostilities in order to end the bloodshed," the Russian ministry said.
(BETA)
The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, published a series of statements regarding the assassination of the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, on the X social network.
"Sayyid Hasan Nasrallah became a shaheed (martyr) while making plans for the defense of the powerless people in Beirut's Dahiya district - just as he had been planning, strategically acting and fighting for the oppressed people of Palestine and their occupied towns and villages for decades.
After all his struggle in God's way, the reward of martyrdom was a just reward for Sayyid Hasan Nasrallah," the Ayatollah commented.
The death toll in Lebanon since Israeli attacks escalated last week has reached at least 1.030, according to Lebanon's health ministry.
The ministry's report on Saturday stated that 56 women and 87 children were among the victims. The total number of injured in Israeli attacks on the country is 6.352, according to the report.
Heavy Israeli attacks on parts of Lebanon last night killed at least 11 people and injured 108, according to the health ministry. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was among those killed in the capital Beirut, the group announced earlier today.
"It should be noted that there are still martyrs under the ruins, missing persons and scattered remains," said Health Minister Firas Abijad.
Two recent Israeli attacks hit medical centers in southern Lebanon, killing seven people and injuring four others, he added.
Another powerful explosion hit the Lebanese capital Beirut, reports CNN.
Smoke can be seen rising from the city's southern suburbs, where Israel has recently carried out a series of attacks.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it carried out a precision strike in the southern district of Dahiya.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli attack in the same area on Friday. Israel continued its bombardment of southern Beirut overnight into Saturday, claiming to have targeted buildings where weapons for the militant group are stored.
Hashim Safiyedin, Hezbollah's second man, could succeed Hassan Nasrallah as the leader of the Lebanese militant group. Reuters has learned from its sources that Safiyedin survived the Israeli attacks on Beirut in which Nasrallah was killed.
As head of the executive council, Safiyedin oversees Hezbollah's political affairs and sits on the Jihad Council, which manages the group's military operations, the Guardian reports. He is Nasrallah's cousin and, like him, a Shia cleric.
The U.S. State Department designated Saffiedin a terrorist in 2017, and in June he threatened a major escalation against Israel after the killing of a second Hezbollah commander.
In public appearances, Safiyedin often expresses Hezbollah's support for Palestine.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Lebanese are the new target of Israel's policy of genocide, occupation and invasion that began last year when Israel launched a war in Gaza following an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel.
The Turkish leader, who has strongly criticized Israel's continued attacks on Gaza, said children were among the Lebanese civilians killed in brutal Israeli attacks this week.
"No one in conscience can accept or justify this kind of massacre," Erdogan wrote in a post on Xu.
"The Israeli government is becoming more insolent as it is pampered by the powers that provide them with weapons and ammunition for their massacres; it defies all humanity, human values and international law," the Turkish president added.
Erdogan said it was up to international organizations, especially the UN Security Council, to take swift action to stop Israel's inhumane attacks on Lebanon.
Muhammad Shia Al Sudani, Iraq's prime minister, said the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah showed a "reckless desire to expand the conflict to the detriment of all nations in the region and their security and stability."
The prime minister's office announced three days of mourning and declared that Israel had crossed all red lines by killing Nasrallah.
Iran's First Vice President Mohamad Reza Aref said that the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah will result in the destruction of Israel.
"We warn the leaders of the occupation regime that the unjust bloodshed... especially of Hezbollah's general secretary, the martyr Seyed Hassan Nasrallah, will lead to their destruction," Arefa was quoted as saying by Iran's Isna news agency.
Arefa was appointed first vice president by the (relatively) new Iranian president, Masud Pezeshkiyan, in July. He was previously vice president under reformist President Mohamad Hatami from 2001 to 2005.
In a post on the social network X, the spokesman of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Kanani, promised that Nasrallah's journey will continue and his holy goal of liberating Jerusalem will be achieved.
In a statement on Saturday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he discussed the latest Israeli attacks on Lebanon with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant and expressed full support for Israel's right to defend itself and its people against Iranian-backed terrorist groups.
"I emphasized that the United States is determined to prevent Iran and its partners and Iranian-backed proxies from exploiting the situation or escalating the conflict. I made it clear that the United States remains ready to protect American forces and facilities in the region, and that it is committed to the defense of Israel," Austin said, according to the Guardian.
A source close to Hezbollah said today that the commander of the front of that fighting organization on the border with Israel, in the south of Lebanon, Ali Karake was killed in an Israeli attack on Friday, when the leader of that pro-Iranian movement, Hassan Nasrallah, was also killed.
Ali Karake, who survived an attack targeting him this Sunday, was killed in an Israeli strike along with Hassan Nasrallah, the source said.
(BETA)
Israel is not at war with the Lebanese people, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said, after the Israeli military confirmed the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in airstrikes in Beirut.
"Nasrallah was the murderer of thousands of Israelis and foreign citizens. He represented an immediate threat to the lives of thousands of Israelis and other citizens. I say to the Lebanese people: we are not at war with you. It's time for a change," Galant said in a statement.
On the other hand, the Lebanese branch of UNICEF condemned the Israeli attacks on this country.
"Mass attacks on Lebanon are pushing the situation towards catastrophe. Tens of thousands of families have been displaced overnight, with nowhere to go. Children are the most affected - lives have been lost, and many are in danger. This violence must stop immediately," said the organization. .
The headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut, where the leader of this group, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli attack, was a legitimate military target according to international law, said the spokesman of the Israeli army, reports the Guardian.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari described Nasrallah as one of Israel's greatest enemies ever. He said that the Israeli army is currently attacking Hezbollah's infrastructure in Lebanon.
"It's not over, Hezbollah still has power," Hagari said, adding that the Israeli military remains on the highest level of alert 24 hours a day.
He also said that Israel had issued stricter instructions for civilians limiting the size of gatherings in areas of central Israel to 1.000 people.
More than 50.000 people have fled to Syria because of Israeli aerial attacks on Lebanon, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said today.
He said more than 200.000 people have been displaced within Lebanon.
"More than 50.000 Lebanese and Syrians living in Lebanon have crossed the border into Syria to escape Israeli attacks," Grandi wrote on the X network.
A UNHCR spokesman said the total number of displaced people in Lebanon had reached 211.319, 118.000 of them since Monday, when Israel significantly stepped up its attacks on the country.
"Help operations are ongoing, especially by UNHCR, to all those who need it in coordination with the authorities," Grandi said.
Citizens began fleeing when Hezbollah in Lebanon opened a front against Israel at the start of the Gaza war, triggered by the October 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian Hamas.
Israel claims it is conducting operations to stop Lebanese Hezbollah attacks in the north of its territory bordering southern Lebanon, and to ensure the return of thousands of residents there forced to flee Hezbollah rockets.
Since Monday, Israeli bombing has killed more than 700 people, mostly civilians, according to Lebanon's health ministry. Within a year, the death toll rose to more than 1.500, more than died in the 33-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
(BETA)
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