Israel-Lebanon latest: Another Hezbollah chief killed in strikes as Nasrallah’s ‘body recovered in Beirut’

Tensions in the Middle East continue to escalate as Israel ramps up its assault on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

Beginning with a major bombardment on 23 September, Lebanon has now experienced its deadliest attack since the end of the 1975 - 1990 Civil War, with over 90,000 civilians displaced from their homes.

Since the 7 October Hamas attack where over 240 Israeli hostages were taken, Hezbollah has been striking Israel from Lebanon on the country’s northern border in support of Hamas.

Israeli forces have continued to respond with strikes on the paramilitary group which regularly fired missiles and rockets to intercept military technology like drones or tanks.

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The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said it struck Eilat in southern Israel this morning, according to reports.

The Israeli military yesterday said a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted shortly after the sirens were heard. There were no reports of injuries.

The Houthi rebels said they targeted the airport during prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrival with a ballistic missile.

The British government has asked Britons in Lebanon to “leave now” amid concerns over the escalating situation in the Middle East following the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The Foreign Office had asked Britons to leave Lebanon last week and moved additional troops to Cyprus to aid evacuations.

The government has been working to increase the number of commercial flights available for British nationals, The Guardian reported.

“Our advice is clear, British nationals should register their presence, book the first available flight and leave now,” a spokesperson told the newspaper.

“We have worked with partners to increase flights and secure seats for British nationals to leave and have also sent a rapid deployment team to bolster the efforts of our embassy in supporting British nationals.

“We know it’s a distressing time for British nationals and all people in Lebanon, which is why we are doing everything we can to help.”

Russia’s foreign minister claimed a “lot of people” are of the opinion that Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was aimed at provoking Iran and the US “to unleash a full-blown war in the entire region”.

Sergey Lavrov told reporters that the killing is “not simply a political assassination. It’s very cynical as an act”.

Hezbollah confirmed yesterday that Nasrallah, its leader and one of its founders, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a southern suburb of Beirut.

“I think — well not even I think but a lot of people say — that Israel wants to create the grounds to drag the US directly into this, and so to create these grounds is trying to provoke Iran,” Mr Lavrov said.

“The Iran leadership, I think, are behaving extremely responsibly. And this is necessary. This is something that we should take due note of,” he said.

The most hopeful prospect is that Israel’s democracy allows for the peaceful transition to a different strategy:

The Israeli military today said it struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including launchers that were aimed toward Israeli territory.

After Hassan Nasrallah’s killing, Hezbollah faces the enormous challenge of plugging the infiltration in its ranks that allowed Israel to destroy weapons sites, booby-trap its communications and assassinate the veteran leader, whose whereabouts had been a closely guarded secret.

Israel’s deadly detonation of hundreds of booby-trapped pagers and radios was the culmination of a rapid succession of strikes that have killed half of Hezbollah’s leadership council and decimated its top military command.

One source familiar with Israeli thinking told Reuters, less than 24 hours before the strike, that Israel has spent 20 years focusing intelligence efforts on Hezbollah and could hit Nasrallah when it wanted, including in the headquarters.

The person called the intelligence “brilliant”.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his close circle of ministers authorised the attack on Wednesday, Israeli officials said. The attack took place while Netanyahu was in New York.

Nasrallah had avoided public appearances since 2006.

“This is a massive blow and intelligence failure for Hezbollah,” said Magnus Ranstorp, a veteran Hezbollah expert at the Swedish Defence University. “They knew that he was meeting. He was meeting with other commanders. And they just went for him.”

Small-scale “border movements” into Lebanon may have begun for a limited ground operation against Hezbollah, according to reports.

While Israel has not confirmed a possible launch of a ground operation but is prepared for one, ABC News reported citing US officials.

Officials in America received a “few minutes notice” at best, before Hassan Nasrallah’s assassination on Friday, the officials added.

President Joe Biden called the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah “a measure of justice” for the thousands of civilians that he and the terrorist organization killed over the last three decades.

“Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror,” Biden said in a statement.

“His death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians.”

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