Beirut/Jerusalem:
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s potential successor has not been in contact since Friday after an Israeli airstrike that allegedly targeted him, a Lebanese security official told Reuters on Saturday.
In an attack on the Iranian-backed Lebanese group, Israel carried out a major attack late Thursday on the southern outskirts of Beirut, with Axios saying three Israeli officials targeted Hashem Saffieddin in a bunker. I told him.
A Lebanese security source and two other Lebanese security sources said ongoing Israeli military attacks on the southern outskirts of Beirut (known as Dahieh) since Friday have prevented rescue workers from searching the attack site. He said that
Hezbollah has so far made no comment about Saffieddin since the attack.
Israeli Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said Friday that the military was still assessing Thursday night’s airstrike, which targeted Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters.
The loss of Nasrallah’s rumored successor will be a further blow to Hezbollah and its backer Iran. Israel’s attacks across the region over the past year have accelerated sharply in recent weeks, weakening Hezbollah’s leadership.
Lebanese security officials said Israel launched a pre-emptive strike on the northern city of Tripoli on Saturday, sharpening the conflict in Lebanon after more bomb attacks on the outskirts of Beirut and Israeli forces launched raids in the south. announced that it had expanded.
Israel has launched an intense bombing campaign in Lebanon and sent troops across the border in recent weeks after nearly a year of firefights with Hezbollah. Until now, the fighting has been largely confined to the Israel-Lebanon border area, running parallel to Israel’s war in Gaza against the Palestinian group Hamas a year ago.
Israel said it aims to allow tens of thousands of its citizens to return safely to their homes in northern Israel, which has been under shelling by Hezbollah since October 8 last year.
Israeli attacks eliminated many Hezbollah military leaders, including Secretary-General Nasrallah, in an airstrike on September 27.
Lebanese officials say the Israeli attack has killed hundreds of Lebanese civilians, including rescue workers, and forced 1.2 million people, nearly a quarter of the population, to flee their homes.
Lebanese security officials told Reuters that Saturday’s attack on a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli killed a Hamas member, his wife and two children. Palestinian media also reported that a militant leader was killed in the attack.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack on the Sunni Muslim port city of Tripoli, which its warplanes targeted during the 2006 war with Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, Israel shells Dahiyeh, once a bustling, densely populated area of Beirut and a Hezbollah stronghold, nightly.
Smoke billowed over Dahieh on Saturday, reducing much of it to rubble and forcing residents to flee to other parts of Beirut and Lebanon.
In northern Israel, air raid sirens sounded and people ran for shelter amid rocket attacks from Lebanon.
Israel considers options against Iran
The violence comes as the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages, according to an Israeli tally.
The ensuing Israeli offensive on Gaza killed around 42,000 Palestinians and displaced almost the entire enclave’s population of 2.3 million, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Iran, which supports both Hezbollah and Hamas and lost a key commander of its elite Revolutionary Guard Corps in airstrikes in Syria this year, fired a volley of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday. The attack caused little damage.
Israel is considering its options in response to the Iranian attack.
Oil prices are rising due to possible attacks on Iranian oil facilities as Israel pursues its goals of driving back Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and eliminating Hamas allies in the Gaza Strip.
US President Joe Biden on Friday urged Israel to consider alternatives to attacking Iranian oil fields, adding that he believed Israel had not yet concluded how to respond to Iran.
Israeli news site Ynet reported that the top US Middle East official, Army General Michael Kurilla, will be heading to Israel soon. Israeli and U.S. officials could not be reached for comment.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
