Senior Hezbollah Leader Nabil Kaouk Killed In Israeli Airstrike

US President Joe Biden said Sunday he would speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and believes that an all-out war in the Middle East must be avoided.

"It has to be," Biden told reporters as he boarded Air Force One for Washington. We really have to avoid it.

The president's statements come as Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon killed dozens of people on Sunday. He would not say when he planned to speak with Netanyahu.

At least 105 people were killed and 359 injured in Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon on Sunday, according to the country’s health ministry.

The highest death toll was in the South Governorate, where 48 people were killed and 168 were injured in Ain Al-Delb and Tyre. The ministry added that Israeli airstrikes caused “severe damage” to Kana hospital in the south.

Four people have been killed while at least 30 have been injured in Israel’s latest strikes on Yemen.

The Israeli military has said it hit dozens more targets in Lebanon during a new barrage “a short while ago”.

“The [air force] struck approximately 120 Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon and deep inside Lebanese territory,” a military statement said.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that Israeli attacks have killed 77 so far today, as Israeli jets intensify attacks across the country, including in the suburbs of the capital Beirut.

Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli airstrikes have killed 21 people on Sunday in east Lebanon. 

“The Israeli enemy raids on Baalbek-Hemel have killed 21 people and wounded 47,” the ministry said, giving a provisional toll.

British Foreign Minister David Lammy said that he spoke to his French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot, about the situation in Lebanon.

“We agreed on the need to end the bloodshed, enable humanitarian support and to work towards a diplomatic solution which ends the conflict,” Lammy wrote on X.

”I followed the attack against the Houthis from the control room of the Air Force. The message is clear - for us, no place is too far,” said Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. 

Mark Kelly, chair of the US Senate Armed Services Airland Subcommittee, said that Israel used a 2,000-lb (900-kg) Mark 84 series bomb in its airstrikes on Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut. 

“We see more use of guided munitions, JDAMs [Joint Direct Attack Munitions], and we continue to provide those weapons,” Kelly said was quoted as saying by Reuters.

“That 2,000-pound bomb that was used, that’s a Mark 84 series bomb, to take out Nasrallah,” he added.

“Even in war there is a morality to safeguard,” Pope Francis said adding that “War is immoral. But the rules of war give it some morality.”

“The IAF struck military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime in Yemen in response to their recent attacks against Israel. The targets included power plants and a seaport, which were used by the Houthis to transfer Iranian weapons to the region, in addition to military supplies and oil. Over the past year, the Houthis have been operating under the direction and funding of Iran, and in cooperation with Iraqi militias, in order to attack the State of Israel, undermine regional stability, and disrupt global freedom of navigation. The IDF is determined to continue operating at any distance—near or far—against all threats to the citizens of the State of Israel,” Israeli Defence Forces said. 

“The attacks failed. Precautions were taken, the oil tanks were emptied in advance at the port of Ras Issa and Hodeidah, and there was an emergency plan. The Zionists will not stop our operations under any circumstances, we will make them more qualitative,” 

“I don’t think anybody’s mourning the loss of Mr Nasrallah, a known terrorist, a guy with American blood on his hands, as well as Israeli blood on his hands. This is a terrorist organization. He was the leader of it. And I think people are safer without him walking around,” said White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby. 

Lebanese health ministry has said that 14 paramedics had been killed in two days of intense Israeli bombardment.

Israel will not be able to safely get people back to their homes in the north of the country by waging all-out war with Hezbollah or Iran, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.

Since October 8, 1,640 people, including 104 children and 194 women, have been killed and 8,408 wounded, according to the data shared by Lebanese Government Emergency Committee

Hezbollah has just released a statement rejecting Israeli media claims that Abu Ali Reda, leader of the group’s Badr unit, was killed in Lebanon.

There were reports that he was the target of the latest Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs this afternoon.

The Israeli military says it killed over 20 Hezbollah members of different ranks when they assassinated the Lebanese Shiite militant group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, at Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut on Friday.

Hezbollah has confirmed that Nabil Kaouk, another of its senior leaders, was killed in an Israeli airstrike, militant group was quoted as saying by the news agency AP.

Hezbollah says it has fired rockets at the Ofek military base in northern Israel today and has been targeting Israel’s Sa’ar settlement with rocket strikes.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said this afternoon that 10 rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon.

The Israeli military has carried out new attacks on Lebanon, including Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of the capital, Beirut. It also claimed to target Hezbollah’s weapons storage facilities and infrastructure sites in the country.

UN World Food Programme (WFP) launched an emergency operation to provide food for up to 1 million people affected by the conflict in Lebanon. 

"We confirm that the minister is going to Lebanon this weekend to talk with local authorities and provide French support, particularly humanitarian support," said French foreign ministry. 

At least 41,595 Palestinian people have been killed and 96,251 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

European foreign ministers have stepped up calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, amid concern that Israel’s killing of Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, risks seriously destabilising Lebanon and the region.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said the killing by Israel of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) deputy commander was a “horrible crime” that would not go unanswered.

“The number of displaced people … could reach a million. Let’s not forget the large influx from the south and the Bekaa” region in Lebanon’s east, the prime minister Najib Mikati said, calling it “the largest displacement movement that may have happened” in the country.

“It is certain that the Lebanese government wants a ceasefire, and everyone knows that Netanyahu went to New York based on the premise of a ceasefire, but the decision was made to assassinate Nasrallah. Diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire are ongoing. The prime minister is not falling short, but the matter is not that easy,” Lebanon’s information minister, Ziad Makary said.

Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati will chair a meeting of the government emergency committee this afternoon, along with several ministers.

The meeting comes as Lebanon deals with successive waves of displacement, with 90,000 fleeing Israeli bombardment of the south and the Bekaa Valley last Monday, and many more evacuating the southern suburbs of Beirut after intense Israeli airstrikes on Friday.

A day after Israeli airstrikes targeted at the Hezbollah headquarters in Lebanon's Beirut that killed the Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah, a video of the slain militant leader's bunker has surfaced on the internet. READ MORE

Days after killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, Israel on Sunday claimed that another top leader of the group Nabil Qaouk was lilled in Israeli Airstrike, according to media reports.

Israeli PM Netanyahu has declared that Israel will launch a “full-force” attack on Lebanon this week.

Israel has deployed troops near border with Lebanon.

Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday released a statement complimenting Israel’s airstrike which eliminated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

In the latest attack, Israel bombed the town of Tayr Debba in the southern district of Tyre in Lebanon, according to media reports.
 

People gathered outside a mosque in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Saturday to mourn the death of hassan nasrallah. Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday that its leader and one of its founders was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut the previous day.

Israel is preparing for a limited ground incursion into southern Lebanon, according to media reports.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that assassinating Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah became an “essential condition” for Israel to achieve its war goals. In his first public remarks since the killing, Netanyahu said the killings of top Hezbollah commanders was not enough and he decided Nasrallah also needed to be killed.
 

Rocket sirens sounded in Israel's Tiberias and nearby areas on Sunday amid its ongoing conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro expressed solidarity with Hezbollah after the group confirmed on Saturday that its leader and one of its founding members, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a southern suburb of Beirut.

Following the killing of Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasarullah in an Israeli strike, Hashem Safieddine has been selected to replace him as the top leader of the Iran-backed militant group, according to media reports. Safieddine is a cousin of Nasrallah, who served as Hezbollah chief for 32 years.

Following precise intelligence, last night, the IDF intensified its operations against Hezbollah's force build-up through a series of targeted strikes on key weapon manufacturing sites. These included a facility used to produce and assemble missile and rocket launchers in southern Lebanon, as well as another site in the Beqaa valley.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Saturday urged its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country immediately. Tajani also said that Israel had given guarantees for the security of more than 1,200 Italian soldiers in southern Lebanon as part of a 10,000-strong UN peacekeeping force. He made the statement in Germany, where he is attending meetings alongside Italian President Sergio Mattarella.

IDF releases footage of a Navy Sa’ar 4.5-class missile ship intercepting an attack drone approaching Israel from the Red Sea. Iran-backed terrorists in Iraq claimed responsibility for the launch.

The Israel Defense Forces may have begun, or is about to begin, small operations across the Lebanon border to take out nearby Hezbollah positions, according to a report by global media outlet.

The IDF released images showing F-15i fighter jets of the Israeli Air Force’s 69th Squadron taking off from the Hatzerim Airbase to carry out the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on Friday. Dozens of bunker-buster bombs were dropped by the fighter jets on Hezbollah’s underground headquarters in the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut in the attack, according to the military.

Incoming rocket or missile sirens sounded in Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat, the IDF said on Sunday. 

The Israeli military on Saturday ordered fresh restrictions on mass gatherings in parts of Central Israel, including the greater Tel Aviv area, as it anticipates attacks from Lebanon following the killing of Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah in the Israeli airstrike in Beirut. According to the fresh restrictions, gatherings of over 1,000 people will be banned.

Middle East has been on a brink of war, more so in the last 24 hours after Israel launched its biggest airstrike ever on Lebanon's Beirut, targeting the Hezbollah headquarters and strategic assets. The Israel airstrikes on Lebanon killed the Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah - reacting to this, UN General Secretary has said that this ‘cycle of violence must stop’. 

A high alert has been sounded in Israel in the wake of killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah as Iran has vowed to take revenge.