Beirut:

The funeral for Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed last September in an Israeli strike, will be held on February 23, the Iran-backed group’s current chief Naim Qassem said on Sunday.

Qassem also confirmed for the first time that leading official Hashem Safieddine had been chosen to succeed Nasrallah before he too was killed in an Israeli raid in October.

The group will hold Safieddine’s funeral on the same day.

“After security conditions prevented holding a funeral” during two months of all-out war between the group and Israel that ended on November 27, Hezbollah has decided to hold “on February 23 a grand… public funeral” for Nasrallah, Qassem said in a televised speech.

Safieddine will be buried “as Secretary-General” or leader of Hezbollah, because “we had… elected His Eminence Sayyed Hashem as Secretary-General… but he was martyred on October 3, a day or two before the announcement”, Qassem said.

Nasrallah will be buried on the outskirts of Beirut “in a plot of land we chose between the old and new airport roads”, while Safieddine will be buried in his hometown of Deir Qanun in southern Lebanon, he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday said that Hezbollah’s new chief, Naim Qassem, was a “temporary appointment” and that he won’t last “long”.

His reaction came hours after the Iran-backed group announced that it had chosen deputy head Naim Qassem to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon’s Beirut last month.

“Temporary appointment. Not for long,” Gallant wrote in a post on X and posted a photograph of Qassem.

In a separate post in Hebrew, he wrote that the “countdown has begun”.

Temporary appointment.
Not for long. pic.twitter.com/ONu0GveApi

— יואב גלנט – Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) October 29, 2024

Earlier this month, an Israeli strike had killed Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah’s executive council who was initially tipped to succeed Nasrallah, who was killed on September 27.

Who Is New Hezbollah Chief Naim Qassem

Naim Qassem was born in Beirut in 1953 to a family from the village of Kfar Fila on the border with Israel.

He was one of Hezbollah’s founders in 1982 and had been the group’s deputy secretary general since 1991, the year before Nasrallah took charge.

The 71-year-old was the most senior Hezbollah official to continue making public appearances after Nasrallah largely went into hiding after the group’s 2006 war with Israel.

Photo Credit: REUTERS

Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting across the Lebanese border since the war in Gaza erupted after Hamas attacked Israeli towns on October 7 last year.

Since September 23, Israel has ramped up strikes on Hezbollah strongholds and sent in ground forces while killing many members of the group’s top leadership.

According to reports, the Israel-Hezbollah war has so far killed more than 1,700 people in Lebanon since September 23.. Israel’s military says it has lost 37 soldiers in Lebanon since it began ground operations there on September 30.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said on Tuesday (October 29, 2024) it had elected deputy head Naim Qassem to succeed slain secretary general Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli air attack on Beirut’s southern suburb over a month ago.

The group said in a written statement that its Shura Council had elected Qassem, 71, in accordance with its established mechanism for choosing a secretary general.

Also read | List of Hezbollah, Hamas leaders Israel has assassinated since October 7, 2023

He was appointed as Hezbollah’s deputy chief in 1991 by the armed group’s then-secretary general Abbas al-Musawi, who was killed by an Israeli helicopter attack the following year.

Qassem remained in his role when Nasrallah became leader, and has long been one of Hezbollah’s leading spokesmen, conducting interviews with foreign media, including as cross-border hostilities with Israel raged over the last year.

Nasrallah was killed on Sept. 27, and senior Hezbollah figure Hashem Safieddine – considered the most likely successor – was killed in Israeli strikes a week later.

Since Nasrallah’s killing, Qassem has given three televised addresses, including one on October 8 in which he said the armed group supported efforts to reach a ceasefire for Lebanon.

Hezbollah’s deputy secretary general Sheikh Naim Qassem, elected head of the Lebanese armed group on Tuesday, has been a senior figure in the Iran-backed movement for more than 30 years. 

Speaking in front of curtains from an undisclosed location on October 8, Qassem said the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel was a war about who cries first, and Hezbollah would not cry first. The group’s capabilities were intact despite “painful blows” from Israel.

But he added the group supported the efforts of parliament speaker Nabih Berri – a Hezbollah ally – to secure a ceasefire, for the first time omitting any mention of a Gaza truce deal as a pre-condition for halting the group’s fire on Israel.

His 30-minute televised address came just days after senior Hezbollah figure Hashem Safieddine was thought to have been the target of an Israeli strike and 11 days after the killing of Hezbollah’s secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Safieddine’s killing was confirmed by Hezbollah on Oct. 23.

Qassem was appointed deputy chief in 1991 by the armed group’s then-secretary general Abbas al-Musawi, who was killed by an Israeli helicopter attack the following year. 

Qassem remained in his role when Nasrallah became leader, and has long been one of Hezbollah’s leading spokesmen, conducting interviews with foreign media including as cross-border hostilities with Israel raged over the last year.

Qassem’s televised address on Oct. 8 was his second since hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah intensified in September.

He was the first member of Hezbollah’s top leadership to make televised remarks after Nasrallah’s killing in an Israeli air attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sept. 27. 

Speaking on Sept. 30, Qassem said Hezbollah would choose a successor to its former secretary general “at the earliest opportunity” and would continue to fight Israel in solidarity with Palestinians. 

“What we are doing is the bare minimum… We know that the battle may be long,” he said in a 19-minute speech.

Born in 1953 in Beirut to a family from Lebanon’s south, Qassem’s political activism began with the Lebanese Shi’ite Amal Movement.

He left the group in 1979 in the wake of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, which shaped the political thinking of many young Lebanese Shi’ite activists. 

Qassem took part in meetings that led to the formation of Hezbollah, established with the backing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

He has been the general coordinator of Hezbollah’s parliamentary election campaigns since the group first contested them in 1992. 

In 2005, he wrote a history of Hezbollah seen as a rare “insider’s look” into the organisation. Qassem wears a white turban unlike Nasrallah and Safieddine, whose black turbans denoted their status as descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Lebanon’s Hezbollah elected its deputy secretary general Naim Qassem to succeed former head Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday.

Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 27.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Beirut:

The killing of Hezbollah’s powerful leader Hassan Nasrallah a month ago has marked a fundamental shift for the Iran-backed Lebanese movement and revived calls for it to surrender its vast weapons arsenal.

“The death of Nasrallah marked the end of an era,” said analyst Sam Heller of the US-based think tank Century Foundation.

After decades at the helm, Nasrallah’s death “will necessarily mark a shift for the organisation”, Heller added.

Nasrallah’s influence extended far beyond his loyal Shiite Muslim support base in Lebanon.

He was a key pillar in Iran’s “axis of resistance” against the United States and Israel, which includes other armed groups in the Middle East as well as Syria.

Israel dealt Hezbollah a seismic blow when it assassinated Nasrallah on September 27 in a huge air strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs that has thrust the movement into a new age.

Hezbollah was already mired in a year of cross-border exchanges of fire with Israel, which it began in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas after the October 7, 2023 attack.

Last month, Israel ramped up strikes on Hezbollah strongholds and sent in ground forces while killing one member of the group’s top leadership after another.

Nasrallah, who had led the group since 1992, spearheaded operations against Israel for decades, and gained cult status among his supporters during the 2006 war.

According to Heller, “he was the foremost decision-maker in the organisation as it rose to prominence in Lebanon and regionally.”

The group’s governing Shura Council has yet to appoint a successor.

Hashem Safieddine, a cleric tipped for the post, was killed by Israel just days after Nasrallah.

Home turf

Hezbollah is now run by a group of leaders, according to its deputy head Naim Qassem.

Lebanese officials, including Prime Minister Najib Mikati, have said that their contact with the group has been cut off for weeks.

Nabih Berri, Lebanon’s parliament speaker who heads the Hezbollah-allied Amal Movement, is tasked with speaking on the group’s behalf, Qassem said in a recent speech.

Berri is believed to be pushing for a ceasefire, according to local media reports.

Hezbollah had long linked a ceasefire in Lebanon to an end to fighting in Gaza, a position it has yet to formally reverse.

Even with the group appearing on the back foot, its fighters continue to fire dozens of rockets daily into Israel, some reaching major cities like Haifa and Tel Aviv.

This week, Hezbollah claimed a drone strike on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in the coastal town of Caesarea.

The group says Israeli forces have not been able to take full control of any village in Lebanon, weeks into a ground invasion.

Israeli forces operating in Lebanon “face very fierce resistance and are forced to retreat under heavy blows”, said a source close to Hezbollah.

“The maximum depth the Israelis have reached is estimated at about two kilometres (1.2 miles),” said the source, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Hezbollah, he said, has the advantage because it is fighting on its own terrain, knowing which “trees and rocks” to hide behind.

‘Disarm’

Hezbollah is widely believed to be better armed than Lebanon’s national military, and remains the only group that did not surrender its weapons after the 1975-1990 civil war.

After years of dominating political life in Lebanon, Hezbollah is facing new calls from its critics within the country to change.

Lebanese computer engineer Elie Jabbour told AFP he believes the only way forward is for Hezbollah to give up its weapons.

“The war cannot end before Hezbollah is disarmed,” he said.

“When that happens, it can join state institutions as a political party only,” said the 27-year-old.

A ceasefire in Lebanon has been tied to the implementation of a UN resolution that ended the last Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701 states that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers should deploy in areas south of the Litani River — an area Hezbollah has long operated in.

But Lebanon is grappling with a prolonged crisis, leaving the country rudderless until a president is elected after a two-year void.

Many in Lebanon blame Hezbollah for blocking the vote.

Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces party and a longtime Hezbollah opponent, said any new president must not “leave any group or weapon outside the framework of the state”.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Thursday that only the state should carry weapons.

But in a country long wracked by division, attempts to “marginalise Hezbollah politically will… invite a violent response” from the group, Heller said.

It “will end in intra-Lebanese conflict,” he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Beirut, Lebanon:

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Sunday aired an audio recording of its slain leader Hassan Nasrallah just over two weeks after an Israeli air strike killed him in southern Beirut.

“We count on you… to defend your people, your families, your nation, your values and your dignity, and to defend this holy and blessed land and this honourable people,” said Nasrallah, who was killed on September 27, in a recording it said was made as he addressed the Iran-backed group’s fighters during a military manoeuvre.

Many other senior commanders of the movement have also been killed.

The Israeli military said about 115 projectiles fired by Hezbollah had crossed into Israeli territory by Sunday afternoon.
A Hezbollah fighter was captured emerging from a tunnel in south Lebanon on Sunday, Israel’s military said, the first such announcement since the start of the ground offensive.

‘Shocking violations’

United Nations peacekeepers on Sunday accused Israeli troops of breaking through a gate and entering one of their positions in south Lebanon.

It is the latest of several incidents the UNIFIL mission has reported since Thursday, leaving five Blue Helmets previously injured.

“At around 4:30 am, while peacekeepers were in shelters, two IDF (Israeli military) Merkava tanks destroyed the position’s main gate and forcibly entered the position” in the Ramia area, before leaving 45 minutes later, said the peacekeeping force (UNIFIL).

On Saturday, several kilometres (miles) to the northeast, Israeli “soldiers stopped a critical UNIFIL logistical movement near Mais al-Jabal, denying it passage”, it added.

“We have requested an explanation from the IDF for these shocking violations,” UNIFIL said.

The Israeli military later said a tank “backed several meters into a UNIFIL post” while “under fire” and attempting to evacuate injured soldiers.

Netanyahu had earlier on Sunday called on the UN chief to remove peacekeepers in southern Lebanon out of harm’s way, after the mission rejected requests to abandon their positions.

He said that the peacekeepers’ presence had “the effect of providing Hezbollah terrorists with human shields”.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned Netanyahu’s call, saying it “represents a new chapter in the enemy’s approach of not complying with international” norms.

UNIFIL, with about 9,500 troops, is in southern Lebanon under the longstanding UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which stipulated that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers should be deployed in south Lebanon.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday called it “absolutely unacceptable” that UN troops are “deliberately targeted by the Israeli armed forces”.

Lebanon calls for ceasefire

Earlier Sunday Israeli warplanes also hit a 100-year-old mosque in the village of Kfar Tibnit near the border, NNA said.

“It was a significant place because families used to gather in the square right next to it (the mosque) on special occasions,” Mayor Fuad Yassin told AFP.

Hamas sparked the ongoing war in Gaza with the deadliest-ever attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

The number includes hostages killed in captivity.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says 42,227 people, the majority civilians, have been killed since Israel’s military campaign began there. The UN acknowledges these figures to be reliable.

In support of Hamas, Hezbollah started firing into northern Israel in October last year, triggering a near-daily exchange of fire until the war escalated in late September.

Netanyahu vowed to fight Hezbollah until Israelis displaced by the violence could return to their homes.

Since then, more than 1,200 people have been killed in Lebanon and a million others have been displaced, according to Lebanese officials.

Mikati said his government would ask the UN Security Council to issue a new resolution calling for a “full and immediate ceasefire”.

In a visit to Baghdad ahead of Israel’s expected retaliation for Iran’s October 1 missile attack on Israel, Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi on Sunday said Tehran was “fully prepared for a war situation”.

He added: “We do not want war.”

The Pentagon later said it would deploy a high-altitude anti-missile system and its US military crew to Israel to help the ally protect itself from potential Iranian attack.

In north Gaza, Israeli forces have for days essentially besieged an around Jabalia, with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, saying the fighting was causing more suffering for hundreds of thousands of people trapped there.

“For over a week there has been no hope, no water and no means of life,” said local resident Muhammad Abu Halima, 40.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday issued a stark warning to Lebanon, claiming the country could face a similar fate to Gaza if it continues to allow Hezbollah to operate within its borders. His statement came as the Israeli military intensified its offensive against Hezbollah along Lebanon’s southern coastline, deploying additional troops and advising civilians to evacuate the region.

In a direct video address to the Lebanese people, Netanyahu urged them to free their country from Hezbollah’s grip to avoid further destruction. “You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza,” he said. The warning was clear: unless Hezbollah is dealt with, Lebanon risks enduring the same fate as Gaza, which has seen widespread devastation due to ongoing conflict.

“I say to you, the people of Lebanon: Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end,” Netanyahu said. 

لديكم فرصة لإنقاذ لبنان قبل أن يقع في هاوية حرب طويلة من شأنها أن تؤدي إلى الدمار والمعاناة كما نراه في غزة. pic.twitter.com/sLcxXvSh7X

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 8, 2024

Hezbollah Fires Back

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalated after the group claimed responsibility for firing rockets at the Israeli port city of Haifa. This attack came after the Israeli military reported that 85 projectiles had crossed the border from Lebanon into Israel. Hezbollah, which has shown no signs of letting up, threatened to continue firing on Israeli cities and towns if Israeli strikes on Lebanese population centres persisted.

The conflict has been simmering since October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a devastating attack on Israel, killing over a thousand civilians. Since then, Hezbollah, a key ally of Hamas, has engaged in sporadic exchanges of fire with Israeli forces. Israel, meanwhile, has vowed to secure its northern border and protect its citizens from Hezbollah’s rocket attacks.

Hezbollah’s Leadership in Crisis

Hezbollah’s leadership has faced major setbacks in recent weeks. In late September, Israel killed its leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on Beirut. Nasrallah had led Hezbollah since 1992 and was widely considered one of the most powerful figures in Lebanon. His death marked a blow to the group, but Israeli strikes did not stop there. In October, Israel launched another bombing campaign in Beirut, targeting Hashem Safieddine, a senior Hezbollah figure widely believed to be Nasrallah’s successor.

While Hezbollah has not confirmed Safieddine’s death, Netanyahu seemed to suggest in his video address that both Nasrallah and Safieddine had been killed. 

Netanyahu in his address said Israel has “degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities; we took out thousands of terrorists, including [longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah himself, and Nasrallah’s replacement, and his replacement’s replacement.”

“We struck Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut… this is the headquarters of the head of the intelligence division, Abu Abdullah Mortada,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said. “With him, we know that Hashem Safieddine was there. The results of this strike are still being looked into, Hezbollah is trying to hide the details. When we know, we will update the public.”

Israel’s Strategy

Having already targeted strongholds in southern and eastern Lebanon, Israel’s latest moves signal a shift towards the coastal areas, with civilians being urged to evacuate. On its Telegram channel, the Israeli military confirmed that the 146th Division had begun “localised, targeted operational activities” in southwestern Lebanon, directly aimed at Hezbollah infrastructure.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have not spared Beirut, with strikes targeting Hezbollah’s stronghold in the southern suburbs of the city. This area is a key base of operations for Hezbollah. Israel has since dismantled Hezbollah tunnels leading into Israeli territory.

Hezbollah Remains Defiant

Despite these losses, Hezbollah remains defiant. Its deputy leader Naim Qassem declared that the group’s military capabilities were intact and that they were prepared for a protracted conflict. Qassem’s statement came even as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant described Hezbollah as a “broken organisation,” whose leadership had been decimated following the elimination of Nasrallah.

Gallant said the impact of Israel’s strikes, claiming that Hezbollah’s command structure was in disarray and that the group lacked leadership following the death of Nasrallah and other key figures. He also described Hezbollah’s firepower capabilities as significantly diminished, thanks to Israel’s focused military campaign. However, Hezbollah continues to maintain its presence along the Lebanese border.

The Shadow of Iran

This conflict is not limited to Israel and Hezbollah. The group is widely believed to be backed by Iran, which supplies it with weapons, funding, and political support. Israeli forces have clashed with Iran-backed militias across the region, including in Syria and Yemen. Just this week, an Israeli airstrike in Damascus targeted a building used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah, killing seven civilians, according to Syrian government reports.

Israel has also accused Hezbollah of using civilian areas as shields for their military operations, a tactic that has drawn widespread condemnation. Hezbollah, in turn, has pointed to the heavy civilian toll in Gaza as evidence of Israel’s indiscriminate use of force. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is dire, with nearly all of its 2.4 million residents displaced at least once due to the ongoing Israeli bombardment.

Tehran has long been a key backer of Hezbollah. In recent weeks, however, there have been reports that Iran may be seeking a ceasefire in Lebanon, possibly as a result of Hezbollah’s mounting losses.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi visited Beirut on Friday, voicing support for a ceasefire, but insisted that any agreement would have to be backed by Hezbollah. 

Smoke billows over Beirut southern suburbs after a strike, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon October 8, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Israeli forces have killed the would-be successors of late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, without naming them.

“We have degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities. We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of the replacement,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a pre-recorded video message.

Mr. Netanyahu did not identify by name Nasrallah’s replacement that he claimed Israel had killed.

A Hezbollah official said on Sunday that Israel was obstructing search and rescue efforts in an area where Nasrallah’s potential successor Hashem Safieddine is thought to have been when Israel bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday.

Israel killed Nasrallah in a September air strike on Beirut.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Nasrallah’s replacement had probably been “eliminated”.

It was not immediately clear who Netanyahu meant in his comments by the “replacement of the replacement”.

“Today, Hezbollah is weaker than it has been for many, many years,” Mr. Netanyahu said in his video message, which was directed at the people of Lebanon.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel last Oct. 8, a day after Hamas Palestinian militants attacked southern Israel from Gaza. Hezbollah cited solidarity with Hamas.

Some 60,000 Israeli citizens in the country’s north have been forced to leave their homes, while Israel’s stated objective is to make its northern areas safe from Hezbollah rocket fire and allow those displaced residents to return.

“Israel has a right to defend itself. Israel also has a right to win. And Israel will win,” Netanyahu said.

He urged Lebanon to “take back your country” and return it to a path of peace and prosperity and take advantage of an opportunity that hasn’t existed in decades.

“If you don’t, Hezbollah will continue to try to fight Israel from densely populated areas at your expense. It doesn’t care if Lebanon is dragged into a wider war,” he added. “Christians, Druze, Muslims — Sunnis and Shiites — all of you are suffering because of Hezbollah’s futile war against Israel.

“Don’t let these terrorists destroy your future any more than they’ve already done,” Netanyahu added. “You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza. It doesn’t have to be that way.”

Beirut/Jerusalem:

The potential successor to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has been out of contact since Friday, a Lebanese security source told Reuters on Saturday, after an Israeli airstrike that is reported to have targeted him.

In its campaign against the Iran-backed Lebanese group, Israel carried out a large strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs late on Thursday that Axios cited three Israeli officials as saying targeted Hashem Safieddine in an underground bunker.

The Lebanese security source and two other Lebanese security sources said that ongoing Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburb – known as Dahiyeh – since Friday have kept rescue workers from scouring the site of the attack.

Hezbollah has made no comment so far on Safieddine since the attack.

Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said on Friday the military was still assessing the Thursday night airstrikes, which he said targeted Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters.

The loss of Nasrallah’s rumoured successor would be yet another blow to Hezbollah and its patron Iran. Israeli strikes across the region in the past year, sharply accelerated in the past few weeks, have decimated Hezbollah’s leadership.

Israel expanded its conflict in Lebanon on Saturday with its first strike in the northern city of Tripoli, a Lebanese security official said, after more bombs hit Beirut suburbs and Israeli troops launched raids in the south.

Israel has begun an intense bombing campaign in Lebanon and sent troops across the border in recent weeks after nearly a year of exchanging fire with Hezbollah. Fighting had previously been mostly limited to the Israel-Lebanon border area, taking place in parallel to Israel’s year-old war in Gaza against Palestinian group Hamas.

Israel says it aims to allow the safe return of tens of thousands of citizens to their homes in northern Israel, bombarded by Hezbollah since Oct.8 last year.

The Israeli attacks have eliminated much of Hezbollah’s senior military leadership, including Secretary General Nasrallah in an air attack on Sept. 27.

The Israeli assault has also killed hundreds of ordinary Lebanese, including rescue workers, Lebanese officials say, and forced 1.2 million people – almost a quarter of the population – to flee their homes.

The Lebanese security official told Reuters that Saturday’s strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli killed a member of Hamas, his wife and two children. Media affiliated with the Palestinian group also said the strike killed a leader of its armed wing.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike on Tripoli, a Sunni Muslim-majority port city that its warplanes also targeted during a 2006 war with Hezbollah.

Israel has meanwhile staged nightly bombardment of Dahiyeh, once a bustling and densely populated area of Beirut and a stronghold for Hezbollah.

On Saturday, smoke billowed over Dahiyeh, large parts of which have been reduced to rubble sending residents fleeing to other parts of Beirut or of Lebanon.

In northern Israel, air raid sirens sent people running for their shelters amid rocket fire from Lebanon.

ISRAEL WEIGHS OPTIONS FOR IRAN

The violence comes as the anniversary approaches of Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people and in which about 250 were taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and displaced nearly all of the enclave’s population of 2.3 million.

Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas, and which has lost key commanders of its elite Revolutionary Guards Corps to Israeli air strikes in Syria this year, launched a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday. The strikes did little damage.

Israel has been weighing options in its response to Iran’s attack.

Oil prices have risen on the possibility of an attack on Iran’s oil facilities as Israel pursues its goals of pushing back Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and eliminating their Hamas allies in Gaza.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday urged Israel to consider alternatives to striking Iranian oil fields, adding that he thinks Israel has not yet concluded how to respond to Iran.

Israeli news website Ynet reported that the top U.S. general for the Middle East, Army General Michael Kurilla, is headed for Israel in the coming day. Israeli and U.S. officials were not immediately reachable for comment.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)