Smoke rose from Beirut's southern suburbs Saturday after the area was pummeled by heavy airstrikes that Israel said killed multiple Hezbollah commanders, including leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The Lebanese militant group confirmed the death of its longtime leader, whose killing could dramatically reshape conflicts across the Middle East.
Attacks on Hezbollah targets by fighter jets continued Saturday after the army said it told residents to evacuate three buildings it was targeting, as Israel braced for Hezbollah's response.
Hours before the strikes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations, vowing that Israel's campaign against Hezbollah would continue — further dimming hopes for an internationally backed cease-fire. Netanyahu abruptly cut his United States visit short and returned to Israel.
More than 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict escalated less than two weeks ago, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
The United Nations says the number of those displaced by the conflict from southern Lebanon has more than doubled and now stands at more than 211,000. At least 20 primary healthcare centers have shut down in hard-hit areas of Lebanon, the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Hamas after it stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, sparking the Israel-Hamas war. Top Israeli officials have threatened to repeat the destruction of Gaza in Lebanon if the Hezbollah fire continues, raising fears of further displacement.
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Here’s the latest:
Sirens sound at Tel Aviv airport soon after Netanyahu lands
TEL AVIV, Israel — Air raid sirens sounded across central Israel, including at the Tel Aviv international airport, shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed from a trip to the U.S.
The Israeli military said a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted shortly after the sirens were heard. There were no reports of injuries.
It was not immediately known if the missile strike was aimed at Netanyahu’s flight.
Netanyahu cut short his trip to the U.S. to deal with the growing crisis in Israel’s battle against Hezbollah militants.
Iran’s president accuses the US of supporting Nasrallah’s killing
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has offered condolences over the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and accused the United States of supporting his killing in Israeli airstrikes.
“The world community will not forget that the order of the terrorist strike was issued from New York and the Americans cannot absolve themselves from complicity with the Zionists,” Pezeshkian was quoted as saying in a statement read on Iranian state television.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned what he called Israel’s “savage attacks” that have killed hundreds of Lebanese people.
In a post on X, Erdogan urged Muslim countries to “exhibit a more determined stance against these attacks.”
“With the United Nations Security Council first and foremost, we are calling to action all institutions working toward global peace, stability and security, as well as all human rights organizations,” he wrote.
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen mourned Nasrallah’s death and said the killing won’t deter Hezbollah or other Iranian-backed groups fighting against “the Israeli enemy.”
The Houthis have launched drone and missile attacks on shipping routes and on Israel as part of their support for Palestinian militant groups.
Iran says one of its Revolutionary Guard generals died in the Israeli strike
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran says a prominent general in its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard died in an airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.
The state-run IRNA news agency says Abbas Nilforushan, 58, was killed Friday in Lebanon.
Nilforushan was sanctioned in 2022 by the U.S. government, which identified him as deputy commander for operations in the guard. It said he had been a leader in suppressing protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, who died after being arrested for allegedly not wearing her headscarf properly.
Nilforushan also served in Syria, backing President Bashar Assad in the civil war that grew out of the 2011 Arab Spring.
In 2020, Iranian state television called him a “comrade” of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the expeditionary Quds Force, who was killed in a 2020 U.S. drone attack in Baghdad.
Lebanese government says death toll tops 1,000 in less than two weeks
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s health minister says 1,030 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon in less than two weeks, more than in the previous 11 months.
Health Minister Firass Abiad says the toll includes 156 women and 87 children.
A total of 1,640 people in Lebanon have died since Hezbollah began firing rockets over the border into Israel in support of its ally, Hamas, the day after Hamas’ deadly raid into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The health ministry counted 11 people killed and 108 wounded on Friday, but said the true toll may be higher.
Israel bars large gatherings in some areas because of concern over Hezbollah counterattack
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s military updated guidelines for residents on Saturday that prohibit large gatherings, demonstrations, and sports events in central Israel due to concerns of a counterattack after Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
School remains canceled in northern Israel for some 600,000 students.
Israeli army spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israel expects “challenging days ahead” as the country braces for a response. Hagari said at a media briefing that Nasrallah “posed a threat to Israeli citizens for decades, and his elimination makes the world a safer place.”
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Friday’s strike in southern Beirut that killed Nasrallah was one of “the most important targeted strikes since the founding of the state of Israel.”
Lebanese fire shots into air to mourn Nasrallah's death
BAABDA, Lebanon — Shots rang out in Hezbollah’s stronghold of southern Beirut and other areas of Lebanon as people fired in the air to mourn the death of the only leader many Lebanese have known for the powerful militant group.
Angry supporters shouted, decrying his death. One woman holding her baby in the western city of Baabda, shouted: “Wish it was our kids, not you, Sayyid,” using an honorific title for Nasrallah.
The Gaza-based Palestinian militant group Hamas issued condolences to its ally, Hezbollah. It said Nasrallah’s death would not stop the two Iran-backed militant groups’ fight against Israel.
Hamas said in a statement that “assassinations will only increase the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine in determination and resolve.”
Hezbollah confirms death of leader Hassan Nasrallah, vows to continue fight
BEIRUT — Hezbollah has confirmed the death of its leader Hassan Nasrallah and vowed to continue its “holy war” against Israel and "in support of Palestine.”
The group said in a statement that Nasrallah “has joined his fellow martyrs.”
Nasrallah led the militant group for more than three decades. His death could dramatically reshape conflicts across the Middle East.
Israel says it has struck more than 140 targets in Lebanon
TEL AVIV, Israel – Israel’s military says it is continuing to strike sites belonging to Hezbollah in Lebanon, some under residential buildings, after the massive attack that targeted the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The Israeli army says it hit more than 140 targets since Friday night, including a storage site for anti-ship missiles beneath civilian apartment buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck the weapons stores under six different buildings as, working to “degrade and dismantle” Hezbollah’s infrastructure and capabilities, the military said.
It is unclear how many people have been killed in the Israeli strikes on densely populated urban areas.
The United Nations says fighting has displaced more than 200,000 Lebanese in the past week.
Iran says flight from Tehran turned away from Beirut airport after Israeli warning
TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian state television says a flight from Tehran bound for Lebanon was turned away from Beirut airport on Saturday.
It reported that the decision came following a warning by Israel that the airport could be targeted if the passenger plane landed.
Israel’s military says it will not allow the civilian airport to be used for military purposes and that pilots are patrolling the skies over the airport for weapons smuggling.
Sky News reported that Lebanon’s transport minister intervened to stop the plane from landing.
Iran's supreme leader urges Muslims to stand against Israel
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s supreme leader has urged all Muslims to stand by Hezbollah against Israel, but has not indicated how Tehran will respond to the reported killing of the group‘s leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Iran is the main backer of Hezbollah and other anti-Israeli militant groups in the region.
In his first comments since Israel claimed to have killed Nasrallah, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, “it is the duty of all Muslims to stand by the people of Lebanon and Hezbollah” against the “occupier, evil and suppressor” regime of Israel.
In a statement read on state TV, he said “all regional resistance forces” support and stand beside Hezbollah.
Iran’s influential parliamentary committee on national security met Saturday and demanded a “strong” response to Israel, state TV reported.
In April, for the first time, Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones toward Israel following an Israeli strike that killed Iranian military advisors.
Israeli military on “high readiness” for Hezbollah retaliation
JERUSALEM — Israel's military says it expects Hezbollah to retaliate for the death of its leader Hassan Nasrallah and is on “high readiness.”
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said much of Hezbollah’s arsenal remains intact despite intense Israeli strikes over the past week, and that Israel will continue to target the group.
“This isn’t a threat that has gone away,” he said. Shoshani said it is “safe to assume” that Hezbollah will retaliate.
But he said Israel hopes the blow “will change Hezbollah’s actions” and alter the course of the war.
Shoshani said the airstrike targeting Nasrallah was based on years of tracking him, along with “real-time information.” He said Israel confirmed the death through various types of intelligence, though he declined to elaborate.
European aviation body tells airlines to avoid Israeli and Lebanese airspace
COLOGNE, Germany — The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has recommended that airlines not operate in Lebanese or Israeli airspace.
The Cologne, Germany-based EASA said Saturday that “an overall intensification of air strikes and degradation in the security situation has been noted, impacting the safety of airspace over Israel and Lebanon.”
It did not cite any one specific event in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah as a trigger for issuing its “conflict zone information bulletins” for the two countries.
It said the recommendation is valid until Oct. 31 but could be reviewed earlier and adapted or withdrawn.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is killed in Beirut strike, Israel’s military says
TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military said Saturday that it killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah militant group, in a strike in Beirut on Friday.
The military said that it carried out a precise airstrike while Hezbollah leadership met at their headquarters in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut.
Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders, were also killed in the attack, the Israeli military said. The Lebanese Health Ministry said that 6 people were killed and 91 injured in the strikes on Friday, which leveled six apartment buildings.
Nasrallah has led Hezbollah for more than three decades. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.
Israel maintained a heavy barrage of airstrikes against Hezbollah on Saturday, as Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets toward Israel.
Israel’s military mobilizes additional reserve soldiers as tensions escalate with Lebanon
TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military said it was mobilizing additional reserve soldiers as tensions escalate with Lebanon. The military said Saturday morning it was activating three battalions of reserve soldiers, after earlier sending two brigades to northern Israel earlier in the week to train for a possible ground invasion.
Israeli airstrike kills 2 in a Gaza refugee camp
CAIRO — An Israeli airstrike killed at least two people and wounded 11 others in the central Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, the Awda hospital said.
The strike hit a house late Friday in the camp, according to the hospital which received the casualties in the first hours of Saturday.
More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the nearly year-long war.
Hezbollah launches projectiles toward Israel
TEL AVIV, Israel — Hezbollah launched more than two dozen projectiles toward Israel Saturday morning, triggering sirens in more than 100 cities and towns across Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military said a surface-to-surface missile was fired from Lebanese territory and fell in an open area in central Israel. Israeli media said the missile fell in the sea.
No injuries or damages were reported, according to Israel’s Fire and Rescue Services.
While Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire since Oct. 8 mostly in the area around the border, in the past weeks, the strikes have targeted much deeper into both countries.
Lebanon asks medical centers to make room for people from hard-hit Beirut suburbs
BEIRUT — Patients in hospitals in Beirut’s southern suburbs will be evacuated to medical centers in the capital and the nearby Mount Lebanon region, Lebanon’s Health Ministry says.
In a statement carried by state news agency early Saturday, the ministry called on hospitals in Beirut and Mount Lebanon to stop receiving cases that can be delayed in order to receive patients evacuating from the hard-hit southern suburb Dahiyeh.
Israel targets areas around Beirut early Saturday
BEIRUT — Smoke rose from Beirut’s southern suburbs Saturday morning and the streets were empty after the area was pummeled overnight by heavy Israeli airstrikes.
Explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs, with flames lighting up the pre-dawn darkness. Fire raged from at least one location, and smoke and flames were seen from above Beirut early Saturday. Residents reported jets flying overhead.
In a short statement, the Israeli military described the sites it hit as belonging to Hezbollah. Authorities there did not immediately acknowledge if there were any casualties.
Shelters set up in the city center for people displaced by the onslaught were overflowing. Many families slept in public squares and beaches, or in their cars. On the roads leading to the mountains above the capital, hundreds of people could be seen making an exodus on foot, holding infants and whatever belongings they could carry.
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