By Emily Rose and Maya Gebeily
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Israel struck multiple targets in Lebanon on Sunday, pressuring Iran-backed Hezbollah with more strikes after it dealt a heavy blow by killing the group’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
The Israeli military said the air force had “hit dozens of Hezbollah terrorist targets in Lebanon, including launchers aimed at Israeli territory, structures in which weapons were stored, and additional Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure.”
The navy intercepted a projectile approaching Israel from the Red Sea area and another eight projectiles from Lebanon fell in open areas, it said in a statement.
Nasrallah was killed in a massive Israeli airstrike on Friday against the group’s headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut. It was a serious blow to Hezbollah and to Iran, eliminating an influential ally that helped make Hezbollah the lynchpin of Tehran’s network of allied groups in the Arab world.
Israel announced his killing on Saturday and Hezbollah later confirmed his death.
In its announcement, Hezbollah said it would continue fighting Israel and has continued to fire rockets at it, including a barrage on Sunday morning.
Nasrallah’s death capped a traumatic two weeks for Hezbollah, beginning with the detonation of thousands of communications devices used by its members. It was widely assumed that Israel had carried out that action, but it has neither confirmed nor denied that it did so.
The escalation has raised fears that the conflict could spiral out of control, potentially drawing in Iran and the United States, Israel’s closest ally.
Hezbollah and Israel have been fighting in parallel with Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas since the Iran-backed Palestinian group’s attack on Israel on October 7.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 33 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon over Saturday, raising the total number since hostilities broke out on October 8 last year to more than 1,670, including 104 children.
In Beirut, displaced families spent the night on the banks of Zaitunay Bay, a series of restaurants and cafes on Beirut’s waterfront where private security often chases away marauders.
On Sunday morning, families with nothing more than a duffel bag of clothing had spread out sleeping mats and helped themselves to tea.
“They will not be able to destroy us, whatever they do, no matter how much they bomb, no matter how much they displace people, we will stay here. We will not leave. This is our country and we will stay,” Francoise said. Azori, a Beirut resident running in the area.
The United Nations World Food Program said in a statement on Sunday that it had launched an emergency operation to provide food to up to 1 million people affected by the conflict in Lebanon.
‘BALANCE OF POWER’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that Nasrallah’s assassination was a necessary step to “change the balance of power in the region for years to come.”
“Nasrallah was not a terrorist, he was the terrorist,” Netanyahu said in a statement, warning of difficult days ahead.
Israel said it killed senior Hezbollah official Ali Karaki and other commanders along with Nasrallah.
US President Joe Biden described Nasrallah’s death as a measure of justice for what he called his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis and Lebanese, and said the United States fully supports Israel’s right to self-defense.
But when asked if an Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon was inevitable, Biden told reporters on Saturday: “It’s time for a ceasefire.”
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was moved to safety in Iran after Nasrallah’s assassination, sources told Reuters. Khamenei said Nasrallah’s death would be avenged and that other militants would follow his path in the fight against Israel.
Tehran called a UN Security Council meeting on Israel’s actions in Lebanon and other parts of the region, warning against any attack on its facilities and diplomatic representatives.
A senior member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Deputy Commander Abbas Nilforoushan, was also killed in Friday’s attacks, Iranian media reported.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel’s war was not against the Lebanese people. He held talks Saturday night about the possible expansion of Israel’s military offensive on its northern front, his office said.
Hezbollah has said it will cease fire only when Israel’s offensive in Gaza ends. Hamas and other Hezbollah allies issued statements mourning his death.
CHRISTIAN CONDOLENCES
Lebanon’s top Christian cleric, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, said Nasrallah’s assassination had “opened a wound in the hearts of the Lebanese.” Rai has previously criticized the Shiite Islamist group Hezbollah, accusing it of dragging Lebanon into regional conflicts.
“We offer our deepest condolences to the family and community of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,” he said in a sermon.
Hezbollah’s arsenal has long been a point of contention in Lebanon, a country with a history of civil conflict. Lebanese critics of Hezbollah say the group has unilaterally dragged the country into conflicts and undermined the state.