Killed Hezbollah chief’s rumoured successor ‘unreachable’ amid intense Beirut airstrikes - Israel-Iran latest

Tehran backs efforts for a ceasefire in Lebanon on the condition it would be backed by Hezbollah and simultaneous with a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said in Beirut on Friday.

“We support efforts for a ceasefire on the condition that it would be acceptable to the Lebanese people, acceptable to the resistance, and thirdly, it would be synchronized with a ceasefire in Gaza,” he said.

Iran’s most senior diplomat also said his presence in Beirut “in these difficult circumstances” was the best evidence that Iran stood by Lebanon and supported the Shias.

British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has once again called for any British nationals in Lebanon to leave the country.

More than 150 Britons left Beirut on the first government-chartered flight on Wednesday, with another plane landing in Birmingham yesterday.

It’s not clear how long Beirut’s airport can remain open, with some Israeli strikes yesterday hitting nearby areas, according to witnesses.

“I repeat importantly to UK nationals in Lebanon that now is the time to leave, now is the time to take up that evacuation plan,” Sir Keir said.

“That is a really important message to everybody listening who may be in that position. Now is the time to leave, we have got the plans in place. So, please come forward and we can make sure that they are evacuated.”

“Vital” humanitarian aid is on its way to Lebanon, the UK government has announced, with £10m in funds being sent to support the growing number of people displaced in the country.

More than 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced by Israeli attacks, according to authorities in the country, while nearly 2,000 are reported to have been killed over the past year - most in the past two weeks.

The announcement comes as the UK continues to urge all British nationals to leave Lebanon, with another plane landing in Birmingham carrying more than 150 people from Beirut yesterday.

Hezbollah’s former leader Hassan Nasrallah has been buried in a secret location amid fears Israel would target a public funeral, sources said.

Nasrallah was killed on September 27 in Israeli airstrikes which targeted the Hezbollah headquarters in south Beirut.

“Hassan Nasrallah has been temporarily buried, until the circumstances allow for a public funeral,” the source said.

The source said a public funeral had been impossible to hold “for fear of Israeli threats they would target mourners and the place of his burial”.

Israeli strikes sealed off Lebanon’s main border crossing with Syria early on Friday, hours after an intense Israeli attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs that is thought to have targeted the heir apparent to Hezbollah’s slain secretary general.

The strikes added to fears inside Lebanon that Israel’s targeting of Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militants will bring an all-out conflict, with Israel also poised to respond to Tuesday’s Iranian missile barrage on its territory.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Tehran and its regional proxies will not back down from Israel.

It came just hours after an Israeli attack on Beirut that is thought to have targeted the successor apparent to Iran-backed Hezbollah’s slain secretary general Hassan Nasrallah.

“The brilliant action of our armed forces a couple of nights ago was completely legal and legitimate”, Khamenei said.

Iran’s “axis of resistance” comprises a group of violent proxies across Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and Palestine, coordinated by Iran’s Quds Force, the foreign arm of the IRGC.

The Quds Force’s aim is to export Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution abroad. The US assassinated the former head of the Quds Force, Qassem Solemaini, in January 2020.